"Lawler," growled Singleton; "he walloped my kid down at the schoolhouse, an' when I went down there to take the kid's part, he walloped me, too." He grinned lugubriously. "I didn't know the cuss could hit so hard," he muttered. "Warden, he salivated me--hit me so durned hard I thought the roof had dropped on me." Warden stiffened; then leaned forward, his lips loose, his eyes malignant. "What do you carry those two guns for, Singleton? I thought you knew how to use them. Men have told me you know." "Bah!" exclaimed Singleton. His gaze met Warden's, his eyes gleaming with resentment. "What do you know about Kane Lawler?" "I hate him, Singleton." "Well, I reckon you ain't the only one. I ain't exactly in love with the cuss, myself. I was thinkin' of my guns when I was with him in the schoolhouse, but somehow I didn't feel like takin' a chance on slingin' 'em. I ain't tryin' to explain nothin'--I just couldn't make my hands go for 'em, that's all. Hell! I reckon the man who can draw a gun on Kane Lawler when he's lookin' at him ain't been born yet. But I'm gettin' square with him for wallopin' me--I'm lettin' you know that, right enough!" "You'll have your chance, Singleton. Lawler will have to trail his cattle--as far as Red Rock, anyway." Singleton's eyes glowed with venomous satisfaction. He grinned evilly at Warden. "So he wouldn't do business with you, eh? I knowed it, an' I've been gettin' ready. Ha, ha! He'll wish he had. Blondy Antrim rode in as far as Kinney's canon last night. I met him an' had a long talk with him. He's keen for it--says he admires any guy which can plan a thing that big. Grinned like a hyena when I told him the big guys back of it wouldn't let any law interfere. He's got seventy men, he says--dare-devil gun-fighters from down south a piece which will do anything he tells 'em an' howl for more." Warden moistened his lips as he grinned his satisfaction. "There's only one trail, Singleton--you are sure of that?" "One trail--the Tom Long trail. The devil himself couldn't find another through that country." Warden leaned back in his chair, laughing lowly. Into his manner as he sat there came a confidence that had not been there before--bold, arrogant. His laugh had a sinister quality in it; in his eyes was the light of greed. And as he watched Singleton something else came into his eyes--something abysmal, causing them to narrow and glow with a bestial light. "Singleton," he said, his voice thick and throaty; "when I stepped into Jim Lefingwell's boots the county board of education appointed me to succeed Lefingwell as school commissioner for Willets. It strikes me that something ought to be done about the teacher punishing your boy. I think I had better have a talk with her."