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Updated: June 8, 2025
"Longstreth, I can MAKE her marry me," declared Lawson, thickly. "How?" "You know the hold I got on you the deal that made you boss of this rustler gang?" "It isn't likely I'd forget," replied Longstreth, grimly. "I can go to Ray, tell her that, make her believe I'd tell it broadcast tell this ranger unless she'd marry me." Lawson spoke breathlessly, with haggard face and shadowed eyes.
Duane wondered, considering that Longstreth had ruined Laramie, how Mrs. Laramie was going to regard the daughter of an enemy. "So you're Granger Longstreth's girl?" queried the woman, with her bright, black eyes fixed on her visitor. "Yes," replied Miss Longstreth, simply. "This is my cousin, Ruth Herbert. We've come to nurse you, take care of the children, help you in any way you'll let us."
Then the big man, who evidently was the leader of the present convention, got up to depart. He went as swiftly as he had come, and was followed by his comrades. Longstreth prepared for a quiet smoke. Lawson seemed uncommunicative and unsociable. He smoked fiercely and drank continually. All at once he straightened up as if listening. "What's that?" he called, suddenly.
Duane peeped in to see a dilapidated youngster on her knee. That sight, if any other was needed, completed his full and splendid estimate of Ray Longstreth and wrought strangely upon his heart. "The ranger," replied Mrs. Laramie. "The ranger!" exclaimed Miss Longstreth. "Yes, he's taken care of us all since since " Mrs. Laramie choked. "Oh!
The whistle of the train made him leap. It was a fast train, yet the ride seemed slow. Duane, disliking to face Longstreth and the passengers in the car, changed his seat to one behind his prisoner. They had seldom spoken. Longstreth sat with bowed head, deep in thought. The girls sat in a seat near by and were pale but composed. Occasionally the train halted briefly at a station.
But she need not have been either resolute or strong, for the clasp of her hand was enough to make Duane weak. "Up yet, Ray?" came Longstreth's clear voice, too strained, too eager to be natural. "No. I'm in bed reading. Good night," instantly replied Miss Longstreth, so calmly and naturally that Duane marveled at the difference between man and woman.
"I call on you to witness the arrest of a criminal prevented by Longstreth, Mayor of Fairdale. It will be recorded in the report to the Adjutant-General at Austin. Longstreth, you'll never prevent another arrest." Longstreth sat white with working jaw. "Longstreth, you've shown your hand," said Duane, in a voice that carried far and held those who heard.
The answer was, perhaps, that Longstreth had guided him, upheld him, protected him. The coming of Ray Longstreth had been the entering-wedge of dissension. "You're too impatient," concluded Longstreth. "You'll ruin any chance of happiness if you rush Ray. She might be won. If you told her who I am she'd hate you for ever. She might marry you to save me, but she'd hate you. That isn't the way.
"Then he is is something more than a ranger?" queried Miss Longstreth, with a little break in her voice. "He's more than I can tell," replied Mrs. Laramie. "He buried Jim. He paid our debts. He fetched us here. He bought food for us. He cooked for us and fed us. He washed and dressed the baby. He sat with me the first two nights after Jim's death, when I thought I'd die myself.
He certainly had something more in mind. Longstreth gave a slight start, barely perceptible, like the switch of an awakening tiger. He sat there, head down, stroking his mustache. Almost Duane saw his thought. He had long experience in reading men under stress of such emotion.
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