d callous citizen,
and he lived largely outside the law and other people's standards of
conduct. But he knew when he had run up against a brick wall. Mrs. Larson
had only to lift her voice and half a dozen men would come running. He
was in the country of the enemy, so to say.

"Am I pesterin' her?" he demanded. "Can't I talk to a girl I knew when
she was a baby? Have I got to get an O.K. from you before I say
'Good-mawnin' to her?"

"Her father left June in my charge. I'm intendin' to see you let her
alone. Get that straight."

Houck gave up with a shrug of his big shoulders. He sat down and attacked
the steak on his plate.

CHAPTER XXIX

"INJUNS"

Bob swung down from the saddle in front of the bunkhouse.

Reeves came to the door and waved a hand. "'Lo, Sure-Shot! What's new in
Bear Cat?"

"Fellow thinkin' of startin' a drug-store. Jim Weaver is the happy dad of
twins. Mad dog shot on Main Street. New stage-line for Marvine planned.
Mr. Jake Houck is enjoyin' a pleasant visit to our little city. I reckon
that's about all."

Dud had joined Tom in the doorway. "Meet up with Mr. Houck?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Have any talk?"

"He had some, but he hadn't hardly got to goin' good when the mad dog
sashayed up the street. Mr. Houck he adjourned the meetin' immediate."

"More important business, I reckon," Dud grinned.

"He didn't mention it, but all those present were in a kinda hurry."

"So's some one else." Reeves nodded his head toward a small cloud of dust
approaching the ranch.

A rider galloped up and dragged his mount to a halt. "Utes have broke
out! Killed a trapper on Squaw Creek! Burned two nesters' houses!" His
voice was high and excited.

"Rumor?" asked Dud.

"No, sir. I talked with a fellow that seen the body. Met two families
that had lit out from Squaw Creek. They're sure enough on the warpath."

Harshaw took the matter seriously. He gave crisp orders to his riders to
cover the creeks and warn all settlers to leave for Bear Cat or Meeker.
Dud and Bob were assigned Milk Creek.

It was hard for the young fellows, as they rode through a land of warm
sunshine, to believe that there actually was another Indian outbreak. It
had been ten years since the Meeker massacre and the defeat of Major
Thornburg's troops. The country had begun to settle up. The Utes knew
that their day was done, though they still came up occasionally from the
reservation on illicit hunting trips.

This very coun