"What is all this about, Norton?" he asked, speaking to the latter, who had stepped forward and now stood beside Greasy. Whatever excitement had resulted from the sudden discovery that his men had captured a rustler and were about to hang him, together with the strain of his hard ride to the cottonwood, had disappeared, and Hollis's voice was quiet as he addressed his range boss. Norton smiled grimly. "We were roundin' up a few strays just the other side of the Narrows this morning, and Ace and Weary were workin' down the river. In that little stretch of gully just the other side of the Narrows they came upon this sneak brandin' two of our beeves through a piece of wet blanket. He'd already done it an' so we ketched him with the goods. It's the first time we've ever been able to lay a hand on one of Dunlavey's pluguglies, an' we was figgerin' on makin' an example of him." Hollis met Norton's grim gaze and smiled. "I want to thank you--all of you, for guarding my interests so zealously," he said. "There is no doubt that this man richly deserves hanging--that is, of course, according to your code of ethics. I understand that is the way things have been done heretofore. But I take it none of you want to make me appear ridiculous?" "Sure not," came several voices in chorus. Hollis laughed. "But you took the surest way of making me appear so," he returned. He saw Norton's face flush and he knew that the latter had already grasped the significance of his words. But the others, simpler of mind, reasoning by no involved process, looked at him, plainly puzzled. He would have to explain more fully to them. He did so. When he had shown them that in hanging the rustler he would be violating the principle that he had elected to defend, they stood before him abashed, thoroughly disarmed. All except Ace. The poet's mind was still active. "I reckon you might say you didn't know nothin' about us hangin' him?" he suggested. "So I might," returned Hollis. "But people would not think so. And there is my conscience. It wouldn't be such a weight upon it--the hanging of this man; I believe I would enjoy standing here and watching him stretch your rope. But I would not be able to reconcile the action with the principle for which I am fighting. I believe none of you men would trust me very much if I advocated the law one day and broke it the next. The application of this principle would be much the same as if I stole a horse to-day and to-morrow had you arrested for stealing one." "That's so," they chorused, and fell silent, regarding him with a new interest. "But what are you goin' to do with the cuss?" queried one man. "We have a sheriff in Dry Bottom, I expect?" questioned Hollis. Grins appeared on the faces of several of the men; the prisoner's face lighted. "Oh, yes," said one; "I reckon Bill Watkins is the sheriff all right." "Then we'll take him to Bill Watkins," decided Hollis. The grins on the faces of several of the men grew. Norton laughed.