oyalty

The first instinctive thought of a man reveals innate character; those
that follow, the moral that he has acquired through environment and
circumstances. That Jack Payson was at bottom good man is shown by his
first emotion, which was joy, and his first impulse, which was to
impart the glad news to everybody, upon receiving the letter from Dick
Lane telling that he was alive and soon to come home. He was in his
house at the time. Bud Lane had just brought in the packet of mail from
Florence, and was riding away. Jack uttered a cry of joy which brought
the young man back to the door. "What is it?" asked Bud. But Jack had
already had time for his damning second thought. He was stunned by the
consideration that the promulgation of the news in the letter meant his
loss of Echo Allen. He dissembled, though as yet he was not able to
tell an outright falsehood:

"It's a letter telling me that I may expect to receive enough money in
a month or so to pay off the mortgage. Now your brother's debt needn't
trouble you any longer, Bud."

"Whew-w!" whistled Bud. "That's great! Where does it come from?"

"Oh, from an old friend that I lent the money to some time ago. But,
say, Bud, there's another matter I want to talk with you about. You've
got to shake Buck McKee. I've got it straight that he is the worst man
in Arizona Territory, yes, worse than an Apache. Why, he has been with
Geronimo, torturing and massacring lone prospectors, and robbing them
of their gold."

"That's a damned lie, Jack Payson, and you know it!" cried the
hot-headed young man. "It was Buck McKee who stood by Dick's side and
fought the Apaches. And I'll stand by Buck against all the world.
Everybody is in a conspiracy against him, Polly and Slim Hoover and
you. Why are you so ready now to take a slanderer's word against his?
You were keen enough to accept his story, when it let you out of going
to Dick's rescue, and gave you free swing to court his girl. Let me
see the name of the damned snake-in-the-grass that's at the bottom of
all this!" And he snatched for the letter in Payson's hand.

The ranchman quickly thrust the missive into pocket. The injustice of
Bud's reflections on former actions gave to his uneasy conscience just
the pretext he desired for justifying his present course. His cause
being weak and unworthy, he whipped up his indignation by adopting a
high tone and overbearing manner, even demeaning himself by using his