The man-killers

There was a hush, a boding silence, in Deadman Canyon, and skirling hawks, flying high against the cliffs, settled down and watched expectantly. A man was riding warily up the M...

The man-trap of the Scarboroughs had caught a wampus when it snared this second rider of the trails. He was huge, and bearded like Olympian Zeus--a black, curling beard which st...

It was the evident purpose of the Scarboroughs to gloss over their misdemeanors by an affectation of jovial good-humor, but the victim of the jest sat back with narrowed eyes wh...

The trail to Maverick Basin led north up Turkey Creek; and on both sides of the canyon, in caverns and beneath huge crags, the white houses of the cliff-dwellers caught the eye....

The Rock House of the Scarboroughs was windowless and almost doorless, a long port-holed fort built of square-edged stone retrieved from an Indian ruin. In prehistoric days each...

It is easy to find a probable cause for any given act, but when one seeks the Ultimate Cause--the reason behind it all--that calls for deep thinking, and finesse. Human conduct...

The trail to the store led across the level valley, tramped broad by the passing of many horse-herds; and as McIvor left the Rock House and rode out into the open, more than one...

Nothing had been further from the intentions of Hall McIvor as he rode forth from the Rock House that morning than that he should join the Bassetts as a friend. He had been sent...

The night was filled with the drumming of horses' feet and the rush and challenge of the hounds. They gathered by the gate and bayed and barked continuously, racing far out acro...

If Grimes had thought to win a bloodless victory and take over Maverick Basin for his sheep he was brought back to earth by that first rifle-shot, which had struck down his bold...

There was a time, in the proud days of chivalry, when knights like Sir Launcelot had to ride forth disguised in order to tempt others to fight; but all this was changed when Col...

She stood trembling and holding close to him, her eyes on the swarthy Bassetts and the old squaw who was stirring up the fire; but when they had retired and left the lovers to t...

As in desert spaces the bodies of the dead draw vultures from hundreds of miles, so the news of the battle, spread by some mysterious means, brought the "neutrals" to the scene...

There is a look in the eyes of eagles which sometimes is found in men--a bold, resolute look, changing swiftly to defiance and a hatred that nothing can quench. It is the sign o...

When a man flees for safety it is seldom into the unknown, for that is always fearful. Nine times out of ten he heads for some old stamping-ground, and generally he heads for ho...

Every window and door of the cliff-dwellers' castle had been sealed against man and beast--the mountain lion was at bay and as he crouched down to spring Hall shot him through t...

It was a failing of McIvor's, this instant response to the call of any friend for aid; and yet when Meshackatee laid his plans before him he was glad he had agreed to join him....

"Wa-a--hooo!" he called, and as his big voice woke the echoes there was an answering yell from below. A man, invisible as a spotted fawn when it walks in the shadow of leaves, c...

There cannot be a war without violence and bloodshed, nor can all the losses be on one side. No matter which side is right, or which has the strongest battalions, Death holds a...

A common cause will bring strange people together, but a common hatred will make them like brothers. The Bassetts suspected Grimes of fishing for sheep-rights, and he _knew_ the...

If it was madness for Meshackatee and his posse of four to ride back into the stronghold of the Scarboroughs, there was a method in their madness. The Scarboroughs would be swar...

There never was a feud, nor yet a war, which did not revert to barbarism; for reprisal invites reprisal, and hot blood breeds new excesses until it ends in a mad swirl of killin...

In ancient days, before taking any action, men stopped to consult the oracle or looked for omens in the flight of birds; but now, with equal results, we make our own augeries an...

The chase, which had been flung far, swung back towards Deadman Canyon, where the trail of the fugitives had disappeared; and with the others came the Randolphs and Isham Scarbo...

There was a day of anxious waiting when they sat and watched the trails and then, in the twilight, Hall led Allifair up the chasm and showed her how to bait and set his traps. H...

The Scarborough gang disappeared over night, disappeared and was lost track of completely, and its dissolution was as complete as that of a bubble which suddenly explodes and is...

"Come over here in the corner," beckoned Meshackatee, and they took seats at a table in the rear. "Now listen," he said, "we stay here all night. You're dead right--the damned b...

Isham Scarborough was dead but the Scarborough gang still lived, and soon what had long been suspected was proven--Miz Zoolah had been its brains. Isham had put up the bluff, th...