w-ponies. Vicious and high-spirited, it cavorted just enough to
show its lines to the best advantage.

The saddle, a famous Cheyenne and forty pounds in weight, was black,
richly embossed, and decorated with bits of beaten silver which flashed
back the sunlight. At the pommel hung a thirty-foot coil of braided
horsehair rope, and at the rear was a Sharp's .50-caliber, breech-loading
rifle, its owner having small use for any other make. The color of the
bridle was the same as the saddle and it supported a heavy U bit which
was capable of a leverage sufficient to break the animal's jaw.

Tex was proud of his outfit, but his face wore a frown--not there only on
acount of his losses, but also by reason of his mission, for under all
his finery beat a heart as black as any in the cow country. For months
he had smothered hot hatred and he was now on his way to ease himself of
it.

He and Slim Travennes had once exchanged shots with Hopalong in Santa
Fe, and the month which he had spent in bed was not pleasing, and from
that encounter had sprung the hatred. That he had been in the wrong made
no difference with him. Some months later he had learned of the death
of Slim, and it was due to the same man. That Slim had again been in
the wrong also made no difference, for he realized the fact and nothing
else.

Lately he had been told of the death of Slippery Trendley and Deacon
Rankin, and he accepted their passing as a personal affront. That they
had been caught red-handed in cattle stealing of huge proportions and
received only what was customary under the conditions formed no excuse
in his mind for their passing. He was now on his way to attend the
carnival at Muddy Wells, knowing that his enemy would be sure to be
there.

While passing through Las Cruces he met Porous Johnson and Silent Somes,
who were thirsty and who proclaimed that fact, whereupon he relieved
them of their torment and, looking forward to more treatment of a
similar nature, they gladly accompanied him without asking why or where.

As they left the town in their rear Tex turned in his saddle and
surveyed them with a cynical smile.

"Have yu heard anything of Trendley?" He asked.

They shook their heads.

"Him an' th' Deacon was killed over in th' Panhandle," he said.

"What!" chorused the pair.

"Jack Dorman, Shorty Danvers, Charley Teale, Stiffhat Bailey, Billy
Jackson, Terry Nolan an' Sailor Carson was lynched."

"What!" they shouted.

"Fish