Produced by Chris Curnow, Barbara Kosker, Michael and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: "There's no use to run away from me," he said] [_Page 166_] THE DUKE OF CHIMNEY BUTTE BY G. W. OGDEN AUTHOR OF THE LAND OF LAST CHANCE FRONTISPIECE BY P. V. E. IVORY [Illustration] GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Made in the United States of America Copyright A. C. McClurg & Co. 1920 Published April, 1920 _Copyrighted in Great Britain_ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I The All-in-One 1 II Whetstone, the Outlaw 18 III An Empty Saddle 39 IV "And Speak in Passing" 47 V Feet upon the Road 69 VI Allurements of Glendora 81 VII The Homeliest Man 95 VIII The House on the Mesa 108 IX A Knight-Errant 114 X Guests of the Boss Lady 130 XI Alarms and Excursions 146 XII The Fury of Doves 166 XIII "No Honor in Her Blood" 185 XIV Notice Is Served 198 XV Wolves of the Range 218 XVI Whetstone Comes Home 238 XVII How Thick Is Blood? 255 XVIII The Rivalry of Cooks 270 XIX The Sentinel 276 XX Business, and More 289 XXI A Test of Loyalty 302 XXII The Will-o'-the-Wisp 320 XXIII Unmasked 329 XXIV Use for an Old Paper 333 XXV "When She Wakes Up" 345 XXVI Oysters and Ambitions 361 XXVII Emoluments and Rewards 374 The Duke of Chimney Butte CHAPTER I THE ALL-IN-ONE Down through the Bad Lands the Little Missouri comes in long windings, white, from a distance, as a frozen river between the ash-gray hills. At its margin there are willows; on the small forelands, which flood in June when the mountain waters are released, cottonwoods grow, leaning toward the southwest like captives straining in their bonds, yearning in their way for the sun and winds of kinder latitudes. Rain comes to that land but seldom in the summer days; in winter the wind sweeps the snow into rocky canons; buttes, with tops leveled by the drift of the old, earth-making days, break the weary repetition of hill beyond hill.