Tex""

en roadbed, the clicking at the rail joints sensible both to tactual and auditory nerves, and calling attention to the disrepair into which the whole line had fallen. In the smokin

urned grass and clouds of imponderable dust, the latter sucked up by the train and sent whirling into every crack and crevice; occasional white spots darting rearward he knew to be the grim, limy skulls of herbiverous animals; arrow-like trails cut deep into the drought-cursed earth, and not too frequently a double line of straggling, dispirited willows, cottonwoods, and box elders, marked the course of some prairie creek, whose characteristic, steep earth banks, often undermined, now enclosed sun-dried mud, curling like heated scales, with here and there pools of noisome water hidden under scabs of scum. Mile

knew to be of the same calling as himself. Towns had followed each other at increasingly long intervals, insensibly changing in their aspect, and the horizon steadily had been narrowing. Here and there along the dried beds of the creeks were rude cabins and shacks, each not far from an abandoned sluice and

days--he had been a fool not to have remembered it and the cow-town not far ahead, but the names of all the mushroom towns he had been in during his career in the West had not remained in his memory. Years rolled backward in a flash. He could see the distant, plodding caravans of homesteaders, or the long, disciplined trains of the freighters, winding over the hills and across the flats, their white canvas wagon covers flashing against the sky, the old, dirty covers emphasizing the newness and whi

s not pleasant to look upon. There was Williams, Gus Williams, often referred to as "Muttonhead." He had been a bully, a sure-thing gambler, herd trimmer, and cattle thief in a small way, but he had been only a petty pilfer

been a stampede one rainy night when he was off trick and rolled up in his blanket under the chuck wagon. They had reason to suspect that the cattle were sent off in their m

rthwest, baffled by the treacherous sands of the river, whose bank it paralleled for sixty miles. Had he gone on in the train he would have come no closer to his objective and would have to face a harder country for man and horse. Gunsight, where his three friends were located, lay about a hundred miles southwest of the bend in the track; but because of the sharp bend it lay farther from the station beyond. From where he

l view. He stiffly descended the steps, a bulging gunny sack over his shoulder and a rolled blanket and a sheat

ut" in the middle of the street, there now were furtive crawlings and treacherous shots from the dark. Like all towns it had a name--it will suffice if we know it as Windsor. Being neither in the mining country nor on the cattle range, and being in an out-of-the-way position even on the merging strip between the two, it undoubtedly would have died a natural death except for the fortuitous chance which had led the branch-line railro

him lay the squalid dirt street with its cans and rubbish, the bloated body of a dog near the platform, a dead cat farther along. There were se

tation to wait until the agent had finished his busi

artitioned office. In a moment he was out again, looked closely at the puncher and d

sleeve. He saw that his companion was slight, not too healthy, and appear

ace to eat an' sleep; an' th' best

ask him about the horse. You might do better

lly for some inexplicable reason. "Reckon he'd eat you because

d it don't matter. It's

In that case I'll use my own judgment," he rep

He hesitated, looked a little self-conscious, and continued. "It's my lungs, you know. I got a transfer for m

in' yo're findin' it too monot

to his eyes. "Anything but the first; and so far as being l

a man's allus a little better off if he can herd with his own sex once in a while. So it ain't monotono

he other on the siding at Willow,

t. Much business her

a--lunger!" He said the w

far as spades are concerned; but why go further? A man can't allus help a thing like tuberculosis--especially if he's makin' a livin' for two. Yo're not very high up here

mself a doctor. His favorit

or his p

ients and hi

y," he explained, grinning. "It said milk an' aigs, among other things; open air, both capitalized

and eggs, but the milk is getting scarce and the eggs are falling off. I--" he sto

ls that way about it. I'm goin' up to th' hotel. M

make enemies," replied the agent, leading the way outside. He

t kill you, but I'm stiff from ridin' in yore palatial trains, mile after weary mile." Rolling the trunk through t

wistfully, shook his head

There was a rag rug before the bed, and this touch of high life and affluence received from him a grave and dignified bow. "Charmed, I'm sure," he said, and went over to the window to view the roofs of the shacks below it. He sniffed and decided that somewhere nea

a discovery. "An' close," he added i

ing. He did not know that his companion had used it because it was colorless and would stamp him, sub-consciously, as being no different fro

Hottest summer since last year!' Ha-ha-ha! Cuss it, it is good!" He was on the proper track to make a friend of the second man he had

th' winter, though some'r tougher'n others," rejoined the

itation choke, but misjudged. Coughing and laughing at once he hung onto the bar by his elbows and writhe

he pleased dispenser of liquor.

etter, an' I can't leave till it comes. Where's th' post office? Yeah? Guess I can find it,

lding which sheltered the post office, and he stopped, regarded th

same Williams? If it is, where did he ever hear of 'Mecca'?" It was a refreshing change from the names so common to stores in towns of this kind and size. "An' cussed if it ain't appropriate, too!" he muttered.

ore of years had slipped from him and that he was a callow, furtive-eyed man in his early twenties, cring

to pray, I shore am turnin' my face to th' birthplace of th' Prophet," he said. "Yeah, I'm even enterin' its sacred por

ortive and the expression shifted to one of alert suspicion, shaded by one of pugnacity.

s a letter for th' pilgrim, Tex Jones?" He cast a careless glance at a cold-eyed individual who lounged in the shadow of a corner, and instantly classified him. B

shuffling toward the mail rack in a corner. He wet his thumb generously, not caring about the color given to it by the tobacco

pious resignation. He would have falle

yo're aimin' to be smart at my expense, look out it don't be

t it?" asked Tex innocently, but realizing

lliams, who could talk as mean as he cared t

etor, like th' barkeep of th' hot

a

d. "Well," he said, "Mohammed came out

idn't startle no world, she was my filly, an' plenty good enough for this part of th' country. Of course, mebby back from where you came from, mebby she

t you named yore store after a poem I read once, that's all. No offe

what ab

t an' bringin' it over when you go there? It'll save me from botherin' you every day. Yore friend at th'

You'll come after yore own mail, my man; an' you'll do

th' recent experience of reasonin' right from th' wrong premises, however, I'll not be a hea

hat cussed agent no friend

etly replied Tex, and he carefully slammed the door as he went out. Going down the

his brains have improved with the years, for they couldn't go the other way and keep him out of an asylum. 'Muttonhead' Williams! All right: once a sheep, always a sheep. I'm going to enjoy my stay in Windsor. Good Lord!" he exclaimed as a sudden fancy hit him. "Wouldn't it be funny if the ol