To go on would be to begin another story; to
tell of the building up of the Quirt outfit, with Lone and Lone's
savings playing a very important part, and with Brit a semi-invalided,
retired stockman who smoked his pipe and told the young couple what they
should do and how they should do it.
Frank he mourned for and seldom mentioned. The Sawtooth, under the
management of a greatly chastened young Bob Warfield, was slowly winning
its way back to the respect of its neighbors.
For certain personal reasons there was no real neighborliness between
the Quirt and the Sawtooth. There could not be, so long as Brit's memory
remained clear, and Bob was every day reminded of the crimes his father
had paid a man to commit. Moreover, Southerners are jealous of their
women,--it is their especial prerogative. And Lone suspected that, given
the opportunity, Bob Warfield would have fallen in love with Lorraine.
Indeed, he suspected that any man in the country would have done that.
Al Woodruff had, and he was noted for his indifference to women and his
implacable hardness toward men.
But you are not to accuse Lone of being a jealous husband.
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