The Trail Horde

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The Trail Horde

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Title: The Trail Horde
Author: Charles Alden Seltzer

Release Date: January 7, 2006 [eBook #17477]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE TRAIL HORDE
by
CHARLES ALDEN SELTZER
Author of "The Ranchman," "'Firebrand' Trevison," "The Range Boss," "The Vengeance of Jefferson Gawne," "The Boss of the Lazy Y," Etc.
Frontispiece by P. V. E. Ivory

[Illustration: "Warden, if you move a quarter of an inch I'll blow you to hell!"]

Chicago A.C. McClurg & Co. 1920 Copyright A. C. McClurg & Co. 1920 Published September, 1920 Copyrighted in Great Britain M. A. Donohue & Co., Printers and Binders, Chicago

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I Concerning Morals 1 II Driving a Bargain 11 III A Woman's Eyes 19 IV Rebellion 24 V A Man's Word 40 VI The Invisible Power 52 VII The Coalition 57 VIII A Woman's Mercy 64 IX The Arm of Power 80 X The Second Obstacle 99 XI The Long Trail 109 XII The Night Wind's Mystery 114 XIII The Invisible Menace 120 XIV Lawler's "Nerve" 127 XV Concerning an Outlaw 142 XVI A "Norther" 148 XVII The Line Cabin 158 XVIII Storm-Driven 165 XIX Death at a Door 172 XX The "Killing" 183 XXI Chance--and a Man 186 XXII The White Waste 191 XXIII A Woman's Wiles 196 XXIV Della's Handkerchief 208 XXV In Which a Man Plots 215 XXVI A Menace Appears 225 XXVII Evidence 229 XXVIII The Trail Horde 234 XXIX Antrim Strikes 246 XXX A Woman Lies 253 XXXI "Jail's Empty, Kane!" 257 XXXII Red King Runs 263 XXXIII The Fight at the Cabin 270 XXXIV "Good Old Shorty!" 283 XXXV Haunting Memories 288 XXXVI A Man Meditates Vengeance 298 XXXVII The Trap 303 XXXVIII The Governor's Guns 310 XXXIX Slade's Prisoner 314 XL Primitive Instincts 318 XLI The Clean-up 323 XLII Going East 331 XLIII The Majesty of Peace 341

THE TRAIL HORDE
* * * * *
CHAPTER I
CONCERNING MORALS
There were fifty thousand acres within view of the ranchhouse--virgin grass land dotted with sage, running over a wide level, into little hills, and so on to an upland whose rise was so gradual that it could be seen only from a distance, best from the gallery of the ranchhouse.
The first tang of autumn was in the sage-scented breeze that swept the county, and the tawny valley, basking in the warm sunlight that came down from a cloudless sky, showed its rugged beauty to advantage.
Kane Lawler paused at the edge of the gallery and filled his lungs from the sage-laden breeze, and then wheeled to face his mother.
She smiled at him.
"Have you seen Ruth Hamlin lately, Kane?"
Lawler's lips opened, then closed again, tightly. And by that token Mrs. Lawler knew that something Kane had been on the point of saying never would be said. For she knew her son as no other person in the country knew him.
Kane Lawler was big. From the broad shoulders that bulged the gray flannel shirt, down the yellow corduroy trousers that encased his legs to the tops of the boots with their high heels and dull-roweled spurs, Lawler looked what he was, a man who asked no favors of his kind.
Mrs. Lawler had followed him out of the house, and she now stood near him, watching him.
There was in Lawler's lean face as he turned from his mother and peered steadily out into the valley, a hint of volcanic force, of resistless energy held in leash by a contrary power. That power might have been grim humor--for his keen gray eyes were now gleaming with something akin to humor--it might have been cynical tolerance--for his lips were twisted into a curious, mirthless half-smile; it might have been the stern repression that had governed him all his days.
Whatever it was it seemed to be no secret from his mother, for she smiled understandingly, and with pride that must have been visible to anyone who watched her.
Massed in the big valley--at a distance of two or three miles from the big ranchhouse, was a herd of cattle. Circling them were a number of cowboys on horses. In the huge corral that spanned a shallow, narrow river, were other cattle. These were the result of the fall--or beef--round-up. For a month there had been