Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Barbara Kosker and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net Rimrock Trail [Illustration] [Illustration: The girl drooped, tired from the long climb] RIMROCK TRAIL By J. ALLAN DUNN Author of _"A Man to His Mate," etc._ [Illustration] A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York Published by arrangement with The Bobbs-Merrill Company Printed in U. S. A. COPYRIGHT 1921 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY COPYRIGHT 1922 J. ALLAN DUNN _Printed in the United States of America_ ARTHUR SULLIVANT HOFFMAN To his loyal friendship, his sincerity and the caustic but kindly criticism which has made my stuff printable. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I GRIT 1 II CASEY 11 III MOLLY 32 IV SANDY CALLS THE TURN 46 V IN THE BED OF THE CREEK 67 VI PASO CABRAS 81 VII BOLSA GAP 97 VIII THE PASS OF THE GOATS 111 IX CAROCA 119 X SANDY RETURNS 129 XI PAY DIRT 135 XII WHITE GOLD 159 XIII A ROPE BREAKS 187 XIV A FREE-FOR-ALL 202 XV CASEY TOWN 232 XVI EAST AND WEST 266 XVII WESTLAKE BRINGS NEWS 291 XVIII DEHORNED 310 XIX THE HIDEOUT 345 XX MOLLY MINE 377 XXI THE END OF THE ROPE 389 XXII THE VERY END 396 Rimrock Trail [Illustration] Rimrock Trail CHAPTER I GRIT "Mormon" Peters carefully shifted his weighty bulk in the chair that he dared not tilt, gazing dreamily at the saw-toothed mountains shimmering in the distance, sniffing luxuriously the scent of sage. "They oughter spell Arizona with three 'C's,'" he said. "Why?" asked Sandy Bourke, wiping the superfluous oil from the revolver he was meticulously cleaning. "'Count of Climate, Cactus, Cattle--an' Coyotes." "Makin' four, 'stead of three," said the managing partner of the Three Star Ranch. Came a grunt from "Soda-Water" Sam as he put down his harmonica on which he had been playing _The Cowboy's Lament_, with variations. "Huh! You got no more eddication than a horn-toad, an' less common sense. You don't spell Arizony with a 'C.' You can't. 'Cordin' to yore argymint you should spell Africa with a 'Z' 'cause they raise zebras there, 'stead of mustangs. Might make it two 'R's,' 'count of rim-rock an'--an' revolvers." Mormon snorted.