t was very hard to keep one's eyes from closing when lying
in that position, and without any sleep for twenty-four hours. The
sheriff determined to crawl into a bunk as soon as he possibly could and
be prepared for his next vigil.

As he glanced over the plain he espied something which caused him to stare
and rub his tired eyes, and which immediately banished sleep from his
mind. Running to it, he suddenly stopped and swore: "Hell!" he shouted.

His wife's blue flower pot sat snugly on the apex of a pile of sand and
from it arose a geranium, which was tied to a supporting stick by a white
ribbon. He had whittled that stick himself, and he knew the flower pot.
Roughly traced in the sand at its base was one word--"Orphan."

"Margaret's geranium in its blue pot, by God!" cried the sheriff, his
mouth open in amazement. "Well, I'll be d----d!" he exclaimed, running
toward the corral for his horse. "If that son-of-a-gun ain't been out
here under my very nose while I watched for him!"

CHAPTER XI

A VOICE FROM THE GALLERY

Matters were fast coming to a head as far as the sheriff and the Cross
Bar-8 were concerned. The loss of the five men who had won the friendship
of their fellows, the reign of terror caused by the outlaw, the loss
of their cook, the devastation and the extra work had only deepened the
hatred which the members of the outfit held for The Orphan; and it went
farther than The Orphan.

Sneed was not long in learning what took place at the stage and of the
driver's loyalty to the outlaw, because Bill would talk; and the working
of his mind was the same as that of his men, for it followed the line of
least resistance. Questions of the nature of arraignments, and which
were answerable by the outfit in only one way, constantly presented
themselves in the minds of the men. They asked themselves why it was
that a man of the sheriff's proven courage, marksmanship and cleverness
should fail to get the man who so terrorized the ranch. Why was the
sheriff so apparently reluctant to take up the chase in earnest and push
it to a finish? Why was he so firm against the assistance of the ranchmen?
Why did he keep to his determination to allow no lynch law when the
evil was so great and the danger so pressing? And he was prepared to go
to great lengths to see that his orders were not disobeyed, as proven by
the scene at the corral. Why could he not have overlooked one lynching
party when property was being destroy