re that the state railroad commissioner lacked aggressiveness, or
that he had been directed to keep in the background. And he was also
aware that for a year or more the people of the state had regretted
electing the present governor; the dissatisfaction manifesting itself in
various ways, though chiefly in the tone of the editorials published by
the newspapers in the towns.

As the average newspaper editor endeavors to anticipate public opinion
he invariably keeps himself well informed concerning the activities of
an office-holder, that he may be prepared to campaign against him at the
instant he detects dissatisfaction among his subscribers. And the
present governor was being scathingly arraigned by the newspapers of the
state, while he sat in smug complacence in his office at the capital. He
had made no effort to correct some of the evils of government about
which he had raged just before the election.

Lawler smiled with grim amusement as he walked toward the Willets
Hotel--where he meant to stay overnight. For he was convinced that the
car shortage could not exist if the state officials--especially the
railroad commissioner--would exert authority to end it. It seemed to
Lawler that there must exist a secret understanding between the railroad
commissioner and the invisible power represented by Gary Warden. And he
wondered at the temerity of the governor--the sheer, brazen disregard
for the public welfare that permitted him to become leagued with the
invisible power in an effort to rob the cattle owners of the state. He
must certainly know that he had been elected by the cattle owners--that
their votes and the votes of their employees had made it possible for
him to gain the office he had sought.

But perhaps--and Lawler's lips curved with bitterness--the governor
wanted only one term. For two years of complete and absolute control of
the cattle industry of the state would make him wealthy enough to hold
public opinion in contempt.

From a window of his office Gary Warden had watched Lawler go into the
station building. And from the same window Warden saw Lawler emerge. He
watched Lawler, noting the gravity of his face, exulting, smiling
mockingly. Warden also noted the little drama of the fluttering
handkerchief, and the smile went out and a black, jealous rage seized
him.

However, Gary Warden and Jay Simmons were not the only persons in town
who watched Lawler. When he had entered town the school children who