Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: CARRINGTON LAUGHED JEERINGLY. (Page 268)] THE RANCHMAN BY CHARLES ALDEN SELTZER AUTHOR OF THE BOSS OF THE LAZY Y, FIREBRAND TREVISON, THE RANGE BOSS, ETC. FRONTISPIECE BY P. V. E. IVORY NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Made in the United States of America Copyright A. C. McClurg & Co. 1919 Published September, 1919 _Copyrighted in Great Britain_ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I Concerning Dawes 1 II Slick Duds 14 III The Serpent Trail 20 IV The Hold-Up 26 V The Unexpected 36 VI A Man Makes Plans 51 VII The Shadow of the Past 59 VIII Concerning “Squint” 66 IX A Man Lies 75 X The Frame-Up 86 XI “No Fun Fooling Her” 91 XII Lifting the Mask 106 XIII The Shadow of Trouble 113 XIV The Face of a Fighter 128 XV Gloom—and Plans 142 XVI A Man Becomes a Brute 153 XVII The Wrong Ankle 172 XVIII The Beast Again 186 XIX The Ambush 193 XX A Fight to a Finish 200 XXI A Man Faces Death 212 XXII Looking for Trouble 218 XXIII A World-Old Longing 225 XXIV A Death Warrant 232 XXV Keats Looks for “Squint” 238 XXVI Keats Finds “Squint” 245 XXVII Besieged 254 XXXIII The Fugitive 259 XXIX The Captive 264 XXX Parsons Has Human Instincts 270