not the memory of his dead father, nor the pleading
of his soft-voiced mother, nor the warning of this uncle who stood
before him now, had brought to Buck Duane so much realization of
the dark passionate strain in his blood. It was the recurrence, a
hundred-fold increased in power, of a strange emotion that for the last
three years had arisen in him.

"Yes, Cal Bain's in town, full of bad whisky an' huntin' for you,"
repeated the elder man, gravely.

"It's the second time," muttered Duane, as if to himself.

"Son, you can't avoid a meetin'. Leave town till Cal sobers up. He ain't
got it in for you when he's not drinkin'."

"But what's he want me for?" demanded Duane. "To insult me again? I
won't stand that twice."

"He's got a fever that's rampant in Texas these days, my boy. He wants
gun-play. If he meets you he'll try to kill you."

Here it stirred in Duane again, that bursting gush of blood, like a
wind of flame shaking all his inner being, and subsiding to leave him
strangely chilled.

"Kill me! What for?" he asked.

"Lord knows there ain't any reason. But what's that to do with most of
the shootin' these days? Didn't five cowboys over to Everall's kill
one another dead all because they got to jerkin' at a quirt among
themselves? An' Cal has no reason to love you. His girl was sweet on
you."

"I quit when I found out she was his girl."

"I reckon she ain't quit. But never mind her or reasons. Cal's here,
just drunk enough to be ugly. He's achin' to kill somebody. He's one of
them four-flush gun-fighters. He'd like to be thought bad. There's a lot
of wild cowboys who're ambitious for a reputation. They talk about how
quick they are on the draw. T hey ape Bland an' King Fisher an' Hardin
an' all the big outlaws. They make threats about joinin' the gangs along
the Rio Grande. They laugh at the sheriffs an' brag about how they'd
fix the rangers. Cal's sure not much for you to bother with, if you only
keep out of his way."

"You mean for me to run?" asked Duane, in scorn.

"I reckon I wouldn't put it that way. Just avoid him. Buck, I'm not
afraid Cal would get you if you met down there in town. You've your
father's eye an' his slick hand with a gun. What I'm most afraid of is
that you'll kill Bain."

Duane was silent, letting his uncle's earnest words sink in, trying to
realize their significance.

"If Texas ever recovers from that fool war an' kills off these outlaws,
why, a young man will have a loo