is side. "Here's
the man right here, Dave Sassoon."

Sassoon never looked a man in the face when the man looked at him,
except by implication; it was almost impossible, without surprising
him, to catch his eyes with your eyes. He seemed now to regard de
Spain keenly, as the latter, still attending to Morgan's statement,
replied: "Elpaso tells a pretty straight story."

"Elpaso couldn't tell a straight story if he tried," interjected
Sassoon.

"I have the statement of three other passengers; they confirm Elpaso.
According to them, Sassoon--" de Spain looked straight at the accused,
"was drunk and abusive, and kept trying to put some of the other
passengers off. Finally he put his feet in the lap of Pumperwasser,
our tank and windmill man, and Pumperwasser hit him."

Morgan, stepping back from the bar, waved his hand with an air of
finality toward his inoffensive companion: "Here is Sassoon, right
here--he can tell the whole story."

"Those fellows were miners," muttered Sassoon. His utterance was
broken, but he spoke fast. "They'll side with the guards every time
against a cattleman."

"There's only one fair thing to do, de Spain," declared Morgan. He
looked severely at de Spain: "Discharge Elpaso."

De Spain, his hands resting on the bar, drew one foot slowly back.
"Not on the showing I have now," he said. "One of the passengers who
joined in the statement is Jeffries, the railroad superintendent at
Sleepy Cat."

"Expect a railroad superintendent to tell the truth about a Calabasas
man?" demanded Sassoon.

"I should expect him at least to be sober," retorted de Spain.

"Sassoon," interposed Morgan belligerently, "is a man whose word can
always be depended on."

"To convey his meaning," intervened Lefever cryptically. "Of course,
I know," he asserted, earnest to the point of vehemence. "Every one in
Calabasas has the highest respect for Sassoon. That is understood.
And," he added with as much impressiveness as if he were talking
sense, "everybody in Calabasas would be sorry to see Sassoon put off a
stage. But Sassoon is off: that is the situation. We are sorry. If it
occurs again----"

"What do you mean?" thundered Morgan, resenting the interference. "De
Spain is the manager, isn't he? What we want to know is, what you are
going to do about it?" he demanded, addressing de Spain again.

"There is nothing more to be done," returned de Spain composedly.
"I've already told Elpaso if Sassoon starts another f