"Aw, shut up," growled the sheriff, brushing roughly past him. "Come on, boys, let's get out of this before they holler their heads off." He swung angrily up on his horse, jerked its head toward the river and took the crossing in silence, leaving the rival cattle kings to fight it out together. The time might come when one or the other of them would "holler for help," but just at that moment the Verde country was not educated up to the law. CHAPTER XIII WELCOME HOME After the war of words was over and the tumult and shouting had died away, the Angel of Peace, which had been flying high of late, fluttered down and hovered low over Verde Crossing. John Upton rode back up the Tonto trail still breathing forth hostile threats; Crittenden and his men buckled on their extra guns and rode blithely out to the adventure; and the store, from being a general hang-out for noisy and drunken cowboys, became once more a shrine to Venus and a temple of the Muse, with Babe the minstrel and Marcelina the devotee. "Billy Veniro" was the theme—that long, sad tale of the far frontier—sung in tragic tenor to a breathless audience of one. She was very pretty, the little Marcelina, now that she had become a woman. The Sisters had taught her her catechism and something more—the grace and sweetness that come from religious adoration, and the quiet of the cell. The great world, too, as personated by Geronimo, had done its share; her hair was done up in dark masses, her long skirt swept the floor, and with the added dignity of a train her womanhood was complete. She sat by the door where she could watch the Tonto trail—for it was by that road that Pecos was to come—and her melancholy eyes glowed as she listened to the song. BILLY VENIRO "Billy Veniro heard them say, in an Arizona town one day, That a band of Apache Indians were on the trail of death. He heard them tell of murder done, of the men killed at Rocky Run. 'There is danger at the cow-ranch!' Veniro cried beneath his breath. "In a ranch forty miles, in a little place that lay In a green and shady valley, in a mighty wilderness, Half a dozen homes were there and in one a maiden fair Helt the heart of Billy Veniro—Billy Veniro's little Bess. "So no wonder he grew pale, when he heard the cowboy's tale— Of the men that he'd seen murdered the day before at Rocky Run. 'As sure as there is a God above, I will save the girl I love. By my love for little Bessie, I must see there is something done!' "When his brave resolve was made, not a moment more he stayed. 'Why, my man,' his comrades told him when they heard his daring plan, 'You are riding straight to death!' But he answered, 'Hold your breath, I may never reach the cow-ranch, but I'll do the best I can.'