Produced by Kathryn Lybarger, Joseph R. Hauser and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: Cover] THE QUIRT =By B.M. Bower= GOOD INDIAN LONESOME LAND THE UPHILL CLIMB THE GRINGOS THE RANCH AT THE WOLVERINE THE FLYING U'S LAST STAND JEAN OF THE LAZY A THE PHANTOM HERD THE HERITAGE OF THE SIOUX STARR, OF THE DESERT THE LOOKOUT MAN CABIN FEVER SKYRIDER THE THUNDER BIRD RIM O' THE WORLD THE QUIRT [Illustration: Al's gun spoke, and Warfield sagged at the knees and the shoulders, and slumped to the ground. FRONTISPIECE. _See page 294._] THE QUIRT BY B.M. BOWER WITH FRONTISPIECE BY ANTON OTTO FISCHER [Illustration] BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1920 _Copyright, 1920,_ BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. * * * * _All rights reserved_ Published May, 1920 Reprinted, May, 1920 Reprinted, July, 1920 Reprinted, October, 1920 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. LITTLE FISH 1 II. THE ENCHANTMENT OF LONG DISTANCE 12 III. REALITY IS WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING 22 IV. "SHE'S A GOOD GIRL WHEN SHE AIN'T CRAZY" 38 V. A DEATH "BY ACCIDENT" 54 VI. LONE ADVISES SILENCE 68 VII. THE MAN AT WHISPER 85 VIII. "IT TAKES NERVE JUST TO HANG ON" 100 IX. THE EVIL EYE OF THE SAWTOOTH 115 X. ANOTHER SAWTOOTH "ACCIDENT" 126 XI. SWAN TALKS WITH HIS THOUGHTS 144 XII. THE QUIRT PARRIES THE FIRST BLOW 158 XIII. LONE TAKES HIS STAND 168 XIV. "FRANK'S DEAD" 178 XV. SWAN TRAILS A COYOTE 192 XVI. THE SAWTOOTH SHOWS ITS HAND 200 XVII. YACK DON'T LIE 216 XVIII. "I THINK AL WOODRUFF'S GOT HER" 233 XIX. SWAN CALLS FOR HELP 245 XX. KIDNAPPED 255 XXI. "OH, I COULD KILL YOU!" 264 XXII. "YACK, I LICK YOU GOOD IF YOU BARK" 277 XXIII. "I COULDA LOVED THIS LITTLE GIRL" 284 XXIV. ANOTHER STORY BEGINS 296 THE QUIRT CHAPTER ONE LITTLE FISH Quirt Creek flowed sluggishly between willows which sagged none too gracefully across its deeper pools, or languished beside the rocky stretches that were bone dry from July to October, with a narrow channel in the center where what water there was hurried along to the pools below. For a mile or more, where the land lay fairly level in a platter-like valley set in the lower hills, the mud that rimmed the pools was scored deep with the tracks of the "TJ up-and-down" cattle, as the double monogram of Hunter and Johnson was called.