Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1917-01-03

called them Outlaws-Dut rustiers,
thieves, robbers, murderers. criminals
He sensed the growth Of relentless
driving passion. and sometimes he
feared that, more than the newly
acquired zeal and pride in this ranger
service, 1t was the old, terrible in
herited killing instinct lifting Its
hydra-head in new guise.
This night wonderful afterglOw
fingered long in the west and against
the golden.red of clear sky the bold,
black head Of Mount Ord reared itself
aloft, beautiful but aloof, sinister yet
calling. Small wonder that Duane
gazed in fascination upon the peak
Somewhere deep in Its corrugated
sides or lost in rugged canyon was
hidden the secret stronghold Of the
master outlaw Cheseldine. All down
along the ride from Ell Paso Duane
had heard of Cheseldine, of his band.
his fearful deeds, his cunning, his
widely separate raids Of his fitting
here and there like a Jack-o'-lantern
but never a word Of his den. never q
word of his appearance.
Next morning Duane did not return
to Ord. He struck of to the north,
riding down q rough, slow-descending
road that appeared to have been used
occasionally for cattle-driving. As
he had ridden in from the west, this
northern direction led him into totally
unfamiliar country. While he passed
on, however, he exercised such keen
observation that In the future he
would know whatever might be of
service to him II he CHANGED that
way again.
After couple Of hours riding he
entered town which he soon dis
covered to be Bradford. It was the
largest town he had visited since
Maria, and he calculated must have
thousand or fifteen hundred in
habitants, not including Mexicans.
He decided this would be good
place for him to hold up for while,
being the nearest town to Ord, only
forty miles away. So he hitched his
horse in front Of store and leisurely
set about studying Bradford.
It was after dark, however,
that Duane verified his suspicious con-
corning Bradford. The town was
awake after dark. and there was one
long row Of saloons, dance-halls,
gambling-resorts in full blast. Duane
visited them all, and was surprised
to see wildness and license equal to
that Of the old river camp of BANDS
in its palmiest days. Here it was
forced upon him that the farther west
one travelled along the river the
sparser the respectable settlements,
the more numerous the hard charac-
tiers, and in consequence the greater
the element of lawlessness. Duane
returned to his clearinghouse with the
conviction that MacNelly's task of
cleaning up the Big Bend country
was stupendous one. Yet, he re-
flected, company of intrepid and
understanding rangers could have
soon cleaned up this Bradford.
The innkeeper had one other guest
that night, a long-coated and wide
sombreroed Texan who reminded
Duane of his grandfather. This man
had penetrating eyes, a courtly man
ner, end an unmistakable leaning to-
ward companionship and mintjuleps'
The gentleman introduced himself Us
Colonel Webb, of Maria, and took IT
as a matter of course that Duane
made no comment about himself.
Duane, as always, was a good
listener. Colonel Webb told, among
other things. that he had come out
to the Big Bend to look over the
affairs Of a deceased brother who
had been q rancher and sheriff OF
one Of the towns, Fairdale by name.
"Found no affairs, no ranch, not
even his grave" said Colonel Webb.
"And tell you. sir, If hells any
tougher than this Fairdale ] don't
want to eNpiate my sins there"
Falruale. imagine SnerlllS
have hard row to hoe out here, :
replied Duane, trying not to appear
curious.
The Colonel swore Justify.
"What this frontier needs, sir, Is
about six companies Of Texas Rang
ers. A fine body Of men, sir, and the
salvation of TeXas.2
Governor Stone doesn't entertain
that opinion" said Duane.
Here Colonel Webb exploded. Mani
festly the governor was not his choice
for chief executive of the great
state. He talked politics for a while,
and Of the vast territory west of the
Pecos that seemed never to get a
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