Roy Norton

“ Already the man hunters were showing signs of restlessness.
“That settles it,” declared one. “The feller we're after either kept up on the high places, or else he dropped over the divide the other way. I think some of us better keep on down the road, and the others go back up to the Deacon's Trail, cross the ridge, and take down the other cañon.”
“Good! That's right!” came a chorus of approval, as the party remounted.
“See you up at Shingle,” Specimen Jones bawled over his shoulder. “If you fellers get there before I do, Josh, make yourselves at home in my cabin. ”

“ Because I do. How do I know you ain't a professional robber? By the way you acted. What makes me think maybe it's the first time you ever did rob one? Because you was in a panic. Why did they lose the trail? Because likely you remembered a half sole or a patch on your boots and got rid of 'em, landin' here in your worn socks. The minute I saw the soles of 'em, I knew you were runnin' away from somethin'. And that ain't all.
“See here, young Tom Rogers, I'll tell you somethin' else: You're a natural-born fool! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, if ever a man was. You! Tom Rogers! ”

“ All but one! Bill Rogers never did a man out of a penny in his life, and—Heaven pity him!—would turn his poor, tired old bones over in his Mexican grave if he knew that his only son—the one he slaved to educate—was nothin' more than a dirty, no-account, pestiferous thief! I kept 'em from gettin' you. Do you know why?”
He walked around the edge of the camp fire and up to the figure that appeared to shrink and flatten itself against the gray wall of rock, and shook a gnarled finger in Rogers' face. He spoke in a voice that was softened with pent feeling: “I was with your dad when he died. ”

“ The sounds on the trail below died away in hasty turmoil and clatter as the posse divided on its new project. A jay bird that had been trying to make itself heard resumed the effort with better success, and Rogers dropped limply back against the rocks of the cliff and stared at the prospector, who eyed him steadily.
“Well, Tom Rogers,” Josh said quietly, “what for did you go and rob that Horseshoe layout? Ain't no use in your lyin' to me, you know, because I know you done it. I hates a liar, unless he's lyin' about somethin' that's worth while, and then I bank on him. ”

“ This boss, Mike Corrigan, was a pinhead who wanted to curry favor with Vance in the hope of getting something at the Horseshoe some time, so he called me in and gave me my time. Then I got a job in the office at the Lady Ellen Mine, and Vance discovered me there two days later. He owns stock in the Lady Ellen. Is one of the directors, I think. So he got me fired again. That was the finish. I gave up trying to do anything up here on the Big Divide, and pulled out for Keswick. I couldn't get a thing to do. They were laying off men. ”

“ Most times 1 don't bother about 'em; but every man has his own ways of lookin' at things,” Josh interrupted. “If you cain't eat without a hat, I'll just naterally lend you one, and I'll lend you some boots, too, to climb up and get yours. Ain't no good climbin' rocks barefooted. Also it's hard on a feller's socks, if he has any.”
He dived at the grub box, took out the bacon, some beans, a can of condensed milk that had been opened and therefore had leaked, and from the bottom produced what he called a hat. ”

“ I'd have a heap more respect for you, and so would every man on the Divide, if you'd waited till you got well, given Vance a right good beatin', paid your fine or served your time in jail, and then toddled off about your business. ”

“ She's a good one. Wore it myself, off and on, for 'most four years. I'll get the boots out of a pack. Um-m-mh! Here they are. My best ones, too. Big for you, but—— Now sit down there, boy, and pretty soon me and you'll have some chuck that'll make you forget all about tumblin' down the hillside. ”