nd had cast in his lot with them. The effectiveness, as a
guardian of the peace, of the man who had at the beginning of his
career in the Bad Lands been saloon "bouncer" for Bill Williams was
notable.

Roosevelt found a group of his friends at the polling-place.

"Has there been any disorder?" he asked.

"Disorder, hell!" said one of the men in the group. "Bill Jones just
stood there with one hand on his gun and the other pointin' over
toward the new jail whenever any man who didn't have the right to vote
come near the polls. There was only one of them tried to vote, and
Bill knocked him down. Lord!" he concluded meditatively, "the way
that man fell!"

"Well," struck in Bill Jones, "if he hadn't fell, I'd of walked round
behind him to see what was proppin' him up!"

The candidates for the various offices had been selected in a spirit
of compromise between the two elements in the town, the forces of
order securing every office except one. The county commissioners
elected were "Johnny" Goodall, a blacksmith named Dan Mackenzie, and
J. L. Truscott, who owned a large ranch south of the Big Ox Bow. Van
Driesche, the best of all valets, was elected treasurer, and Bill
Dantz superintendent of schools; but the forces of disorder could
afford to regard the result without apprehension, for they had been
allowed to elect the sheriff; and they had elected Joe Morrill.

Election night was lurid. Morrill, evidently desiring to make a good
impression without serious inconvenience to his friends, served notice
immediately after his election that there must be no "shooting up" of
the town, but "the boys" did not take Morrill very seriously. Fisher,
who had a room in Mrs. McGeeney's hotel next to Joe Ferris's store,
found the place too noisy for comfort, and adjourned to the office of
the _Bad Lands Cowboy_. The little shack was unoccupied, for Packard,
having recently married, had moved his residence into one of the
deserted cantonment buildings on the western side of the river.
Truscott had neglected to secure a room in the hotel and Fisher
invited him to join him in the _Cowboy_ office.

The day had been strenuous, and the two men were soon sound asleep.
Fisher was awakened by a sharp object striking him in the face. An
instant later he heard a round of shots, followed instantly by another
shower of broken glass. He discovered that one of the windows, which
faced the Tamblyn Saloon, was completely shattered. He shook Truscott.