to say."
His head fell forward as he spoke, his hands hung heavy, and he
slipped slowly to the ground, fast asleep.

After two days and nights of turmoil and passion his troubles were
ended, suddenly; and as she raised him up Lucy Ware bent down quickly
under cover of the dusk and kissed his rumpled hair.

CHAPTER XVI

THE DEPARTURE

The gentle hand of sleep, which held Hardy in a grip that was akin to
death, blotting out the past and dispelling all remembrance of his
sorrows, failed utterly to abate the fighting spirit of Jefferson
Creede or sap the Spartan grimness of his purpose. Worn by the
destroying anger of the previous day, thwarted and apparently
defeated, he rose up at the first glow of dawn and set about his
preparations with an unemotional directness which augured ill for
Jasper Swope. Before the sun was an hour high he had the town herd on
the trail for Bender, entrusted to the care of Bill Lightfoot and
several others of whom he wanted to be rid. The camp was dismantled,
the packs were loaded upon the spare horses, and the outfit was ready
to start for Carrizo Creek before breakfast was more than finished in
the ranch house. After a final survey to make sure that nothing had
been overlooked in the scuffle, the _rodeo_ boss waved his hand to the
leaders; then, as the train strung out up the canyon, he rode over to
the house to say good-bye. The last farewell is a formality often
dispensed with in the Far West; but in this case the boss had business
to attend to, and--well, he had something to say to Kitty Bonnair,
too.

Very quietly, in order not to awaken his partner--whom he had picked
up like a tired baby and stored away in the darkened bunk-room the
evening before--Creede opened the door of the living-room, greeted his
lady-love with a cheerful grin, and beckoned Miss Lucy outside by a
backward jerk of the head.

"Sorry to disturb you, Miss Ware," he said, "but we're movin' camp
this mornin' and before I go I want to tell you about them cattle I'm
just sendin' to town. If I didn't have other business on hand I'd go
down with you gladly and sell 'em for you, but when you git to Bender
you go to Chris Johansen, the cattle buyer, and give him this list.
You won't savvy what it is but Chris will, and you tell him that if he
don't give you the best market price for them cows he'll have
to--lick--me! This is a dry year and feeders ain't much nohow, but I
don't want to see no friend of mine ro