a hundred
stories of his nerve, his wonderful speed with a gun, his passion for
gambling, his love of a horse--his cold, implacable, inhuman wiping out
of his path any man that crossed it.

"Cheseldine is a name, a terrible name," said Colonel Webb. "Sometimes
I wonder if he's not only a name. In that case where does the brains of
this gang come from? No; there must be a master craftsman behind this
border pillage; a master capable of handling those terrors Poggin and
Knell. Of all the thousands of outlaws developed by western Texas in the
last twenty years these three are the greatest. In southern Texas, down
between the Pecos and the Nueces, there have been and are still many
bad men. But I doubt if any outlaw there, possibly excepting Buck Duane,
ever equaled Poggin. You've heard of this Duane?"

"Yes, a little," replied Duane, quietly. "I'm from southern Texas. Buck
Duane then is known out here?"

"Why, man, where isn't his name known?" returned Colonel Webb. "I've
kept track of his record as I have all the others. Of course, Duane,
being a lone outlaw, is somewhat of a mystery also, but not like
Cheseldine. Out here there have drifted many stories of Duane, horrible
some of them. But despite them a sort of romance clings to that Nueces
outlaw. He's killed three great outlaw leaders, I believe--Bland,
Hardin, and the other I forgot. Hardin was known in the Big Bend, had
friends there. Bland had a hard name at Del Rio."

"Then this man Duane enjoys rather an unusual repute west of the Pecos?"
inquired Duane.

"He's considered more of an enemy to his kind than to honest men.
I understand Duane had many friends, that whole counties swear by
him--secretly, of course, for he's a hunted outlaw with rewards on his
head. His fame in this country appears to hang on his matchless gun-play
and his enmity toward outlaw chiefs. I've heard many a rancher say: 'I
wish to God that Buck Duane would drift out here! I'd give a hundred
pesos to see him and Poggin meet.' It's a singular thing, stranger, how
jealous these great outlaws are of each other."

"Yes, indeed, all about them is singular," replied Duane. "Has
Cheseldine's gang been busy lately?"

"No. This section has been free of rustling for months, though there's
unexplained movements of stock. Probably all the stock that's being
shipped now was rustled long ago. Cheseldine works over a wide section,
too wide for news to travel inside of weeks. Then sometimes he's not