for his inexhaustible good-nature, the mellow baritone
in which he sang the range songs at any one's request, and perhaps
more than all, for the very laxness with which he conducted his work.
They had had enough of the old school of sheriffs who lived a few
months gun in hand and died fighting from the saddle. The office had
never seemed desirable until Gus Morris ran for it and smiled his way
to a triumphant election.

Before his career as an office-holder began, he ran a combined general
merchandise store, saloon, and hotel. That is to say, he ran the
hostelry in name. The real executive head, general manager, clerk,
bookkeeper, and cook, and sometimes even bartender was his daughter,
Jacqueline. She found the place only a saloon, and a poorly patronized
one at that. Her unaided energy gradually made it into a hotel,
restaurant, and store. Even while her father was in office he spent
most of his time around the hotel; but no matter how important he
might be elsewhere, in his own house he had no voice. There the only
law was the will of Jacqueline.

Out of the stable behind this hostelry Dan and Tex Calder walked on
the evening of the train robbery. They had reached the place of the
hold-up a full two hours after Silent's crew departed; and the fireman
and engineer had been working frantically during the interim to clean
out the soaked fire box and get up steam again. Tex looked at the two
dead bodies, spoke to the conductor, and then cut short the voluble
explanations of a score of passengers by turning his horse and riding
away, followed by Dan. All that day he was gloomily silent. It was a
shrewd blow at his reputation, for the outlaws had actually carried
out the robbery while he was on their trail. Not till they came out of
the horse-shed after stabling their horses did he speak freely.

"Dan," he said, "do you know anything about Sheriff Gus Morris?"

"No"

"Then listen to this and salt every word away. I'm an officer of the
law, but I won't tell that to Morris. I hope he doesn't know me. If he
does it will spoil our game. I am almost certain he is playing a close
hand with the lone riders. I'll wager he'd rather see a stick of
dynamite than a marshal. Remember when we get in that place that we're
not after Jim Silent or any one else. We're simply travelling cowboys.
No questions. I expect to learn something about the location of
Silent's gang while we're here, but we'll never find out except by
hints and