h her, and
licked everybody in town before he left. Sa-ay, it musta been some
dance, all right!

"Then--here comes the funny part. Everybody was all stirred up over
the Lorrigans' dance, and right in the middle of the powwow, blest if
the Lorrigans didn't buy a brand new piano and haul it to the
schoolhouse. They say it was the college youth, that was stuck on the
schoolma'am. Well, everybody out that way got to talking and
gossiping--you know how it goes--until the schoolma'am, just to settle
the talk, goes and gives a dance to raise money to pay for the piano.
She's all right--I don't think for a minute she's anything but
_right_--and it might have been old Tom himself that bought the piano.
Anyway, she went and sent invitations all around, two dollars per
invite, and got a big crowd. Had a picnic in the grove, and everything
was lovely.

"But sa-ay! She forgot to invite the Lorrigans! Everybody in the
country there, except the Devil's Tooth outfit. I figure that she was
afraid they might rough things up a little--and maybe she didn't like
to ask them to pay for something they'd already paid for--but anyway,
just when the dance was going good, here came the whole Devil's Tooth
outfit with a four-horse team, and I'm darned if they didn't walk
right in there, in the middle of a dance, take the piano stool right
out from under the schoolma'am, and haul the piano home! They--"

A loud guffaw from his friends halted the narrative there. Before the
teller of the tale went on, Lance pulled his cap down over his eyes,
got up and walked out and stood on the platform.

"They hauled the piano _home!_" He scowled out at the reeling line of
telegraph posts. "They--hauled--that piano--home!"

He lighted a cigar, took two puffs and threw the thing out over the
rail. "She didn't ask the Lorrigans--to her party. And dad--"

He whirled and went back into the smoking compartment. He wanted to
hear more. The seat he had occupied was still empty and he settled
into it, his cap pulled over his eyes, a magazine before his face. The
others paid no attention. The harsh-voiced man was still talking.

"Well, they can't go on forever. They're bound to slip up, soon or
late. And now, of course, there's a line-up against them. It's in the
blood and I don't reckon they can change--but the country's changing.
I know of one man that's in there now, working in the dark, trying to
get the goods--but of course, it's not my business to peddle tha