340
XX BILL ATTENDS THE PICNIC 352
XXI THE ANNOUNCEMENT 368
XXII TEX WILLIARD'S MISTAKE 375
XXIII THE GREAT HAPPINESS 392

ILLUSTRATIONS

"She unfastened the gold breast-pin which she
wore at her throat and pinned the bandage into
place" _Frontispiece_
"'The less you count the longer you'll live!'
said Shields" 192
The Orphan gives Blake Shields' note 214
"The Orphan stepped back a pace and dropped the
Colt into its holster" 390

THE ORPHAN

CHAPTER I

THE SHERIFF RIDES TO WAR

Many men swore that The Orphan was bad, and many swore profanely and with
wonderful command of epithets because he was bad, but for obvious reasons
that was as far as the majority went to show their displeasure. Those of
the minority who had gone farther and who had shown their hatred by rash
actions only proved their foolishness; for they had indeed gone far and
would return no more.

Tradition had it that The Orphan was a mongrel, a half-breed, asserting
that his mother had been a Sioux with negro blood in her veins. It also
asserted that his father had been nominated and unanimously elected, by a
posse, to an elevated position under a tree; and further, that The Orphan
himself had been born during a cloudburst at midnight on the thirteenth
of the month. The latter was from the Mexicans, who found great delight in
making such terrifying combinations of ill luck.

But tradition was strongly questioned as to his mother, for how could
the son of such a mother be possessed of the dare-devil courage and grit
which had made his name a synonym of terror? This contention was well
stated and is borne out, for it can be authoritatively said that the
mother of The Orphan was white, and had neither Indian nor negro blood
in her veins, but on the contrary came from a family of gentlefolk.
Thus I start aright by refuting slander. The Orphan was white, his
profanity blue, and his anger red, and having started aright, I will
continue with the events which led to the discovery of his innate better
qualities and their final ascendency over the savagely hard nature
which circumstances had bred in him. These event