SMOKE OF THE .45 [Illustration: “Wal, you’d better untie Gallup. He don’t look happy.”] SMOKE OF THE .45 BY HARRY SINCLAIR DRAGO AUTHOR OF “OUT OF THE SILENT NORTH” FRONTISPIECE BY FRANK TENNEY JOHNSON NEW YORK THE MACAULAY COMPANY Copyright, 1923, By THE MACAULAY COMPANY PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO THOMAS A. BRANDON —COMPANION OF MANY TRAILS— THROUGH WHOSE EYES I LEARNED TO LOVE THE DESERT. CONTENTS I Out of the Past II The Red Hand III By His Own Hand IV Foot-Loose V The First Clue VI Outside the Law VII If This Be Love VIII Straight Talk IX Two Old Men X Molly Kent XI More Than a Bet XII Molly Explains XIII “He Is My Friend” XIV For the Heart of a Girl XV Madeiras Gets a Chance XVI Bitter Fruit XVII Gallup’s Price XVIII “Kill Him, the Thief” XIX “Come and Get Him” XX Without Pay XXI Two Dead Men XXII The Face in the Window XXIII The Gun Speaks XXIV Johnny Dice Comes Back to Life XXV Madeiras Asserts Himself XXVI Between the Lines XXVII Time to Act XXVIII Johnny Talks at Last XXIX Evidence to Convict XXX Madeiras Appears at Last XXXI The Death Chant XXXII The Debt Is Paid XXXIII Fulfillment SMOKE OF THE .45 CHAPTER I OUT OF THE PAST September had come and gone, leaving the desert brown and somber against the graying sage. The first of the cold rains had fallen. Round-up time was past. The cattle left in the hills were moving down to lower pastures. Unerringly they sensed the brief Indian summer yet to come, which would turn the grasses green for a few brief days before the cold, snow-bringing winds of late October were upon them.