Hatfield and the governor that
had aroused in him the fighting lust that gripped him now.

The ironic smile had faded when he reached the stable where he had left
Red King. It had set in serious lines and his chin had taken on a
pronounced thrust when he mounted the big horse and sent him
southeastward into the glowing moonlight.

He brought Red King to a halt at a spot on the plains where the herd of
Circle L cattle were being held for the night, with some cowboys riding
monotonous circles around them.

Blackburn had seen him coming, and recognizing him, met him near the
camp fire.

The range boss listened, his lips grimming, then silently nodded.

It was past midnight when Lawler reached the Circle L. He let himself
into the house noiselessly, changed his clothes, donning the corduroy,
the woolen shirt, and the spurred boots that he had worn before
beginning his trip to the capital. Then, penning a note to his mother,
informing her that he was going to Red Rock with his men, he went out
and rode down into the valley, where the other men of the outfit were
guarding the main herd, which had been held in the valley at his orders.

Long before dawn the big herd was on the move, heading northward, toward
Willets, the twenty men of the outfit flanking them, heading them up
the great slope that led out of the valley.

The progress of the herd was slow, for there was good grazing and the
cattle moved reluctantly, requiring the continued efforts of the men to
keep them moving at all. And yet when darkness came that night they had
reached the Rabbit Ear--where two nights before Blackburn had held the
first herd.

It was late in the afternoon of the second day when Lawler and his men
came within sight of Willets. They drove the second herd to where
Blackburn and his men were holding the first. Leaving Blackburn to make
arrangements for camp, Lawler rode on into Willets. From a distance he
saw that the company corral was well filled with cattle; and when he saw
Lem Caldwell talking with some other men in front of the hotel, he knew
the cattle in the corral bore Caldwell's brand.

He waved a hand to Caldwell and the others as he rode past the hotel;
but he kept on until he reached the station, where he dismounted,
hitched Red King to a rail and crossed the railroad track.

A frame building, small, with a flat shedlike roof, stood near the
corral fence--between the tracks and the big gates--and Lawler entered
the open