Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: "Put up your hands a little higher, Mr. Man!"] RIM O' THE WORLD BY B. M. BOWER AUTHOR OF CHIP OF THE FLYING U, THE THUNDER BIRD, SKYRIDER, ETC. FRONTISPIECE BY ANTON OTTO FISCHER GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Made in the United States of America Copyright, 1919, By Little, Brown, and Company. All rights reserved CONTENTS I THE RIM AND WHAT LAY BENEATH IT 1 II THE LORRIGAN TREE GROWS THRIFTILY 16 III MARY HOPE DOUGLAS APPEARS 30 IV A MATTER OF BRANDS 44 V THEY RIDE AND THEY DO NOT TELL WHERE 57 VI BELLE MEETS AN EMERGENCY IN HER OWN WAY 67 VII THE NAME 82 VIII THE GAME 90 IX A LITTLE SCOTCH 102 X THE LORRIGAN WAY 118 XI LANCE RIDES AHEAD 133 XII SHE WILL, AND SHE WON'T 145 XIII A WAY HE HAD WITH HIM 156 XIV IN WHICH LANCE FINISHES ONE JOB 172 XV HE TACKLES ANOTHER 180 XVI ABOUT A PIANO 192 XVII THE LORRIGAN VIEWPOINT 204 XVIII PEDDLED RUMORS 219 XIX MARY HOPE HAS MUCH TROUBLE 232 XX AS HE LIVED, SO HE DIED 250 XXI LANCE TRAILS A MYSTERY 258 XXII LANCE RIDES ANOTHER TRAIL 272 XXIII LANCE PLAYS THE GAME 283 XXIV WHEN A LORRIGAN LOVES 297 XXV BELLE LORRIGAN WINS 312 XVI THE DOPE 323 XXVII HOW ONE TRAIL ENDED 336 XXVIII THE MAKING OF NEW TRAILS 345 RIM O' THE WORLD CHAPTER ONE THE RIM AND WHAT LAY BENEATH IT Not all of the West is tamed and trained to run smoothly on pneumatic tires and to talk more enthusiastically of the different "makes" of cars than of bits and saddles. There are still wide stretches unknown of tourists and movie men hunting locations for Western melodrama where men live in the full flavor of adventure and romance and never know it, because they have never known any other way to live.