"No, thanks, Tim," laughed Tex. "I can’t go with you, Miss Saunders. I’ve got a pack of coyotes to make fools of--see you at th’ SV in four or five days. Don’t you worry--it was clean self-defense. He brought it on himself. All right, Tim: get a-goin’!" He listened to the sounds of the cautiously propelled car, the clicks of the rail joints growing softer and softer. When they had died out, he walked swiftly back to the house, where he got his hat and coat and then went on to town. Going to where the roan patiently waited for him he led it to John Graves’ stable and reconnoitered the building. John was not at home on this night of excitement. Tex forced the door, and quietly saddled the sorrel and the gray, threw a sack of corn across the latter and, leading them forth, led the three animals back of a deserted building and then went toward the hotel. *CHAPTER XXII* *THE FALSE TRAIL AND THE TRUE* The maudlin crowd was ugly and did not accept the marshal’s appearance with any enthusiasm. While he had not opposed them he had warned and sent away their hoped-for victims. Frank scowls met him wherever he looked. He stopped at the table where Gus Williams and a dozen cronies, the bolder men of the town, were drinking and arguing. "Blascom’s cussed sick," he announced. "Sick as a dog. I rode out to spend th’ night with him, knowin’ that when that coyote section-boss sent his pack out of town there wouldn’t be no reason for me to stay here an’ make myself unpopular. I got a good job in this town, an’ I’ve got a right to have friends here. Anyhow, I told Murphy that if his men came back they’d have to do their own fightin’. Reckon that’s why he sent ’em along. Him an’ Costigan follered ’em on th’ other hand car." He glanced over the room. "Where’s Hennery?" he asked. "I heard he wanted to see me." Williams roused himself and looked up through bloodshot eyes. "Th’ fool’s gone courtin’, I reckon; an’ on a night like this, when I needed him. Don’t know when he’ll git back. He mus’ be enjoyin’ hisself, anyhow." John Graves chuckled and endorsed the sentiment. Tex nodded. "I reckon mebby he is, his star bein’ bright tonight. Much excitement in town after I left? Station agent make any trouble?" "A lot of chances he’d ’a’ had to make any of us any trouble," sneered a miner. "I reckon he cut an’ run right quick. We’ve been figgerin’ he’s better off in some other town. Been thinkin’ of chasin’ him out. Any objections from th’ marshal of Windsor?" "Not a cussed one," answered Tex. "He’s a trouble-maker, stayin’ here. Chuck him on th’ train tomorrow an’ send him back East, where he come from. An’ his sister, too, if you want." Williams shook his head. "Not her," he said. "Henry’ll never let her git away from him. He’s aimin’ to take care of her; an’ he shore can handle her, _he_ can."