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Updated: May 16, 2025
Ten minutes of leisurely walking brought me to the shady outskirts of Linrock and I entered the town with mingled feelings of curiosity, eagerness, and expectation. The street I walked down was not a main one. There were small, red houses among oaks and cottonwoods. I went clear through to the other side, probably more than half a mile.
In my talks with Steele we spent time studying George Wright's character and actions. He was Sampson's partner, and at the head of a small group of Linrock ranchers who were rich in cattle and property, if not in money. Steele and I had seen fit to wait before we made any thorough investigation into their business methods. Ours was a waiting game, anyway.
How often had I seen this sort of procession, though not on so large a scale, in many towns of wild Texas! The two great and dangerous things in Linrock at the hour were whisky and guns. Under such conditions the rustlers were capable of any mad act of folly.
It was about one o'clock when I strode into Linrock. The streets for the most part were deserted. I went directly to the hall where Morton and Zimmer, with their men, had been left by Steele to guard the prisoners. I found them camping out in the place, restless, somber, anxious.
Gradually, however, it subsided and from the last few utterances before quiet was restored I gathered that Steele had intruded upon some kind of a meeting in the hall. "Steele, what'd you break in here for?" demanded Sampson. "Isn't this court? Aren't you the mayor of Linrock?" interrogated Steele.
But I was bound. The grim, dark nature of my enterprise there in Linrock returned to stultify my eagerness, dispel my illusion, shatter my dream. For one instant it flashed through my mind to tell Sally who I was, what my errand was, after the truth. But the secret was not mine to tell. And I kept my pledges. The hopeful glow left Sally's face. Her disappointment seemed keen.
It'll bring trouble on us. Besides, like everybody here, he's biased. He can't see anything good in Steele. Yet he says: 'More power to him! I'm mystified, and, oh, I'm between two fires!" Steele's next noteworthy achievement was as new to me as it was strange to Linrock.
She was delighted, and her cousin for once seemed speechless. "That's the ranch," said the driver, pointing with his whip. It needed only a glance for me to see that Colonel Sampson's ranch was on a scale fitting the country. The house was situated on the only elevation around Linrock, and it was not high, nor more than a few minutes' walk from the edge of town.
"After all, maybe those awful stories Joe Harper told about you were true." "They sure were," I declared with great relief. "And now to forget ourselves. I'm more than sorry I distressed Miss Sampson; more than sorry because what I said wasn't on the square. Blome, no doubt, has come to Linrock after Steele. His intention is to kill him.
Sampson was indeed a study. Yet did he betray anything but rage at this interloper? "Sampson, here's plain talk for you and Linrock to digest," went on Steele. "I don't accuse you and your court of dishonesty. I say strange! Law here has been a farce. The motive behind all this laxity isn't plain to me yet. But I call your hand!"
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