expression on his
face, "I'm done shootin' as far as you're concerned." He walked to the
door, hesitated on the threshold and looked back. "Mister man," he said
slowly, "mebbe you won't lick Big Bill in this here little mix-up, but
I'm telling you that you're goin' to give him a damn good run for his
money! So-long."

He stepped down and disappeared. For a moment Hollis looked after him,
and then he sat down at the desk, his face softening into a satisfied
smile. It was something to receive a tribute from a man like Ten Spot.

CHAPTER X

THE LOST TRAIL

It was after seven o'clock when Hollis mounted his pony in the rear of
the _Kicker_ office and rode out over the plains toward the Circle
Bar. He was properly elated by the outcome of his affair with Ten Spot.
The latter had come to the _Kicker_ office as an enemy looking for
an opportunity to kill. He had left the office, perhaps not a friend,
but at least a neutral, sympathetic onlooker, for according to Hollis's
interpretation of his words at parting he would take no further part in
Dunlavey's campaign--at least he would do no more shooting.

Hollis was compelled to make a long detour in order to strike the Circle
Bar trail, and when at seven-thirty o'clock he rode down through a dry
arroyo toward a little basin which he must cross to reach a ridge that
had been his landmark during all his trips back and forth from Dry
Bottom to the Circle Bar, dusk had fallen and the shadows of the
oncoming night were settling somberly down over the plains.

He rode slowly forward; there was no reason for haste, for he had told
Potter to say nothing about the reason of his delay in leaving Dry
Bottom, and Potter would not expect him before nine o'clock. Hollis had
warmed toward Potter this day; there had been in the old printer's
manner that afternoon a certain solicitous concern and sympathy that had
struck a responsive chord in his heart. He was not a sentimentalist, but
many times during his acquaintance with Potter he had felt a genuine
pity for the man. It had been this sentiment which had moved him to ask
Potter to remove temporarily to the Circle Bar, though one consideration
had been the fact at the Circle Bar he would most of the time be beyond
the evil influence of Dry Bottom's saloons. That Potter appreciated this
had been shown by his successful fight against temptation the night
before, when postponement of the publication of the _Kicker_ would
have been