ed? Say, there's a bunch up there that's never been curried
below the knees--and never will be. They pulled off a stunt the Fourth
that I'll bet ain't ever been duplicated anywhere on earth, and never
will be. I was in Pocatello, and I went on up with the crowd from
there, and got in on the show. And sa-ay, it was some show!

"They've got a feud up there that's rock-bottomed as any feud you ever
heard of in Kentucky. It's been going on for years, and it'll keep
going on till the old folks all die off or move away--or land in the
pen. Hasn't been a killing in there for years, but that's because
they're all so damn tough they know if one starts shooting it'll
spread like a prairie fire through dry grass.

"There's an outfit in there--the Devil's Tooth outfit. Far back as the
country was settled--well, they say the first Lorrigan went up in
there to get away from the draft in the Civil War, and headed a gang
of outlaws that shot and hung more white men and Injuns than any
outfit in the State--and that's going some.

"They were killers from the first draw. Other settlers went in, and
had to knuckle under. The Devil's Tooth gang had the Black Rim in its
fist. Father to son--they handed down the disposition--I could tell
yuh from here to Boise yarns about that outfit.

"Now, of course, things have tamed down. As I say, there hasn't been a
Devil's Tooth killing for years. But it's there, you know--it's in the
blood. It's all under the surface. They're a good-hearted bunch, but
it'll take about four generations to live down the reputation they've
got, if they all turned Methodist preachers. And," the grating voice
paused for a minute, so that one caught the full significance of his
hint, "if all yuh hear is true, religion ain't struck the Devil's
Tooth yet. It ain't my business to peddle rumors, and the time's past
when you can hang a man on suspicion--but if you read about the
Devil's Tooth outfit some time in the paper, remember I said it's
brewing. The present Tom Lorrigan ain't spending _all_ his time
driving his cows to water. He was hauled up a few years ago, on a
charge of rustling. An old Scotchman had him arrested. Tom was
cleared--he had the best lawyer in the West--brought him from Boise,
where they need good lawyers!--and got off clear. And since then he's
been laying low. That's the one mistake he's made, in my opinion. He
never did a damn thing, never tried to kill the Scotchman, never acted
up at all. And whe