d Miss Sampson. "Bring about a
meeting. You are my friend." Then she went swiftly away through the
flowers, leaving me there, thrilled to my soul at her betrayal of
herself, ready to die in her service, yet cursing the fatal day Vaughn
Steele had chosen me for his comrade in this tragic game.
That evening in the girls' sitting-room, where they invited me, I was
led into a discourse upon the gun-fighters, outlaws, desperadoes, and
bad men of the frontier. Miss Sampson and Sally had been, before their
arrival in Texas, as ignorant of such characters as any girls in the
North or East. They were now peculiarly interested, fascinated, and at
the same time repelled.
Miss Sampson must have placed the Rangers in one of those classes,
somewhat as Governor Smith had, and her father, too. Sally thought she
was in love with a cowboy whom she had been led to believe had as bad a
record as any. They were certainly a most persuasive and appreciative
audience. So as it was in regard to horses, if I knew any subject well,
it was this one of dangerous and bad men. Texas, and the whole
developing Southwest, was full of such characters. It was a very
difficult thing to distinguish between fighters who were bad men and
fighters who were good men. However, it was no difficult thing for one
of my calling to tell the difference between a real bad man and the
imitation "four-flush."
Then I told the girls the story of Buck Duane, famous outlaw and Ranger.
And I narrated the histories of Murrell, most terrible of
blood-spillers ever known to Texas; of Hardin, whose long career of
crime ended in the main street in Huntsville when he faced Buck Duane;
of Sandobal, the Mexican terror; of Cheseldine, Bland, Alloway, and
other outlaws of the Rio Grande; of King Fisher and Thompson and
Sterrett, all still living and still busy adding notches to their guns.
I ended my little talk by telling the story of Amos Clark, a criminal of
a higher type than most bad men, yet infinitely more dangerous because
of that. He was a Southerner of good family. After the war he went to
Dimmick County and there developed and prospered with the country. He
became the most influential citizen of his town and the richest in that
section. He held offices. He was energetic in his opposition to rustlers
and outlaws. He was held in high esteem by his countrymen. But this Amos
Clark was the leader of a band of rustlers, highwaymen, and murderers.
Captain Neal and some of
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