[Illustration: “With a boldness that gripped his throat he slipped his hand along the back of the arbor seat”] JUSTIN WINGATE, RANCHMAN By John H. Whitson Author of “The Rainbow Chasers,” “Barbara, a Woman of the West,” etc. With Illustrations from Drawings by Arthur E. Becker Boston Little, Brown, and Company Copyright, 1905, by Little, Brown, and Company. All rights reserved. Published April, 1905. Printers, S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U. S. A. CONTENTS BOOK ONE—THE PREPARATION CHAPTER I—THE DREAMER AND THE DREAM CHAPTER II—WINGATE JOURNEYS ON CHAPTER III—CLAYTON’S VISITORS CHAPTER IV—SIBYL CHAPTER V—THE INVASION OF PARADISE CHAPTER VI—WHEN LOVE WAS YOUNG CHAPTER VII—WILLIAM SANDERS CHAPTER VIII—AND MARY WENT TO DENVER CHAPTER IX—A REVELATION OF CHARACTER CHAPTER X—PIPINGS OF PAN CHAPTER XI—THE TRAGEDY OF THE RANGE CHAPTER XII—WITH SIBYL AND MARY CHAPTER XIII—WHEN AMBITION CAME CHAPTER XIV—IN THE STORM CHAPTER XV—A FLASH OF LIGHTNING CHAPTER XVI—BEN DAVISON’S TRIUMPH BOOK TWO—THE BATTLE CHAPTER I—COWARDICE AND HEROISM CHAPTER II—THE HARVEST OF THE FIRE CHAPTER III—LEES OF THE WINE CHAPTER IV—IN THE WHIRLPOOL CHAPTER V—HARKNESS AND THE SEER CHAPTER VI—THE MOTH AND THE FLAME CHAPTER VII—THE COMPACT CHAPTER VIII—THE THRALL OF THE PAST CHAPTER IX—SANDERS TELLS HIS STORY CHAPTER X—IN THE CRUCIBLE CHAPTER XI—FATHER AND SON CHAPTER XII—CHANGING EVENTS CHAPTER XIII—IN PARADISE VALLEY CHAPTER XIV—THE DOWNWARD WAY CHAPTER XV—MARY’S DESPAIR CHAPTER XVI—THE WAGES OF SIN CHAPTER XVII—SHADOWS BEFORE CHAPTER XVIII—PHILOSOPHY GONE MAD CHAPTER XIX—SIBYL AND CLAYTON CHAPTER XX—THE RIDE WITH DEATH CHAPTER XXI—RECONCILIATION CHAPTER XXII—THE DREAMS THAT CAME TRUE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS “With a boldness that gripped his throat he slipped his hand along the back of the arbor seat” “The woman sitting there on her chafing horse stared back at him” “Sanders twisted round in his chair and began to draw from his pocket a grimy memorandum book” “Behind them broke a bellowing tumult, as the foremost cattle began to plunge downward into the cañon” JUSTIN WINGATE, RANCHMAN BOOK ONE—THE PREPARATION CHAPTER I THE DREAMER AND THE DREAM Before swinging out of the saddle in front of the little school house which was serving as a church, Curtis Clayton, physician and philosopher, looked over the valley which held the story of a romantic hope and where he was to bury his own shattered dream. The rain of the morning had cleared away the bluish ground haze, the very air had been washed clean, and the land lay revealed in long levels and undulating ridges. Behind towered the mountain, washed clean, too, its flat top etched against the sky and every crag and peak standing out sharp and hard as a cameo.