ponder. Daylight discovered the bodies of three dead men, rustlers,
who had been killed, the report went out, by random shots. Other
participants in the affair had been wounded. I believed Morton and his
men, under cover of the darkness and in the melee, had sent in some
shots not calculated upon the program.

"From there I hurried to town. Just as I had expected, Morton and Zimmer
were lounging in front of the Hope So. They had company, disreputable
and otherwise. As yet Morton's crowd had not come under suspicion. He
was wild for news of Steele, and when I gave it, and outlined the plan,
he became as cool and dark and grim as any man of my kind could have
wished. He sent Zimmer to get the others of their clique. Then he
acquainted me with a few facts, although he was noncommittal in regard
to my suspicion as to the strange killing of the three rustlers.

"Blome, Bo Snecker, Hilliard, and Pickens, the ringleaders, had painted
the town in celebration of Steele's death. They all got gloriously drunk
except old man Snecker. He had cold feet, they said. They were too happy
to do any more shooting or mind what the old rustler cautioned. It was
two o'clock before they went to bed.

"This morning, after eleven, one by one they appeared with their
followers. The excitement had died down. Ranger Steele was out of the
way and Linrock was once more wide open, free and easy. Blome alone
seemed sullen and spiritless, unresponsive to his comrades and their
admirers. And now, at the time of my arrival, the whole gang, with the
exception of old Snecker, were assembled in the Hope So.

"'Zimmer will be clever enough to drift his outfit along one or two at a
time?' I asked Morton, and he reassured me. Then we went into the
saloon.

"There were perhaps sixty or seventy men in the place, more than half of
whom were in open accord with Blome's gang. Of the rest there were many
of doubtful repute, and a few that might have been neutral, yet all the
time were secretly burning to help any cause against these rustlers. At
all events, I gathered that impression from the shadowed faces, the
tense bodies, the too-evident indication of anything but careless
presence there. The windows were open. The light was clear. Few men
smoked, but all had a drink before them. There was the ordinary subdued
hum of conversation. I surveyed the scene, picked out my position so as
to be close to Steele when he entered, and sauntered round to it. Morton
aiml