hen he was agin 'em, an' they would jus' move in
on _him_. He tol' 'em to go ahead an' try. An' seem' as how they was only
one company hereabouts--Howard's Rangers--they didn't try. That's when
Johnny Shannon had his big bust-up with his pa an'--"

"His father!" Drew could not help that exclamation.

"Wal, _Don_ Cazar ain't Johnny's real pa, o' course. But he shore thinks
th' world an' all of Johnny, raising him up from a li'l cub. Johnny warn't
more'n four o' thereabouts when _Don_ Cazar went back to Texas an' got
him. _Don_ Cazar's been like a pa to Johnny since, an' a mighty good one,
too. But when th' Rangers was round here in '62 Johnny--he had a big row
an' run off to join 'em. Jus' a half-growed kid, not big 'nough to raise a
good brush o' hair on his chin yet. When th' Yankee boys from Californy
came marchin' in an' th' Rebs had to skedaddle--Johnny, he went with 'em.
Didn't see Johnny round here agin till last fall when he came ridin' in
lookin' mighty beat out an' down in th' mouth. But when th' Union men
came, they was thinkin' th' same 'bout _Don_ Cazar. Wanted him to jump
right in an' swim 'longside o' them. But he said as how th' safety of his
people was what was important. He was fightin' Apaches an' holdin' th'
land, an' that was what meant th' most to his thinkin'. Then the Yankees
did a lot of fancy cussin' out 'bout him, trying to make out that he was a
Reb' cause Johnny lit off with th' Southerners.

"Till they began to discover nothin' much goes on round here lessen _Don_
Cazar has a finger in th' pot. An' they had to swaller a lotta them hot
an' hasty words--stuck heavy in quite a few craws, I reckon." Fenner
grinned. "Only, th' _Don_, he's got agin him now a big list of little men
who'd like to be big chiefs. Every once in a while they gits together an'
makes war talk. Never quite got up guts 'nough to paint their faces an'
hit th' trail, not yet. But did somebody like Bayliss look like he was
beginnin' to make things move, then he'd have a lotta willin' hands to
help him shove. Up to now Johnny's been their best bet at gittin' th'
Range into trouble."

Drew turned his head to look Fenner in the eye. "Now you think we are!" He
did not know why he uttered that as a challenge; the words just came out
that way.

"Not any more'n any of us wot can be drawed into a fight in town. You keep
away from Bayliss. He can't come huntin' you without tippin' his hand so
wide he'd never be able to play agin. H