W. C. Tuttle

“ Rodeos are all right, I s’pose. Folks get a lot of fun out of it; but them buckin’ contests shore do bring in undesirable citizens.”
Honey had spoken so earnestly that Laura Hatton did not realize he was talking about Jack Ralston.
But Jack Ralston knew. He got to his feet, glaring at Honey, who paid no attention to him at all. He adjusted the split-ear headstall of his bridle, looked it over critically and came over to the steps. Ralston glanced from Honey to Laura and then shot a glance at Jim Wheeler, who, in spite of the misery in his soul, was trying to stifle a laugh. ”

“ Laura is tryin’ to get Peggy to go home with her for a while. She’ll prob’ly have one awful time convincin’ Jim Wheeler that it’s the best thing for Peggy to do—but Laura is shore convincin’.”
“You mean that Peggy would go East, Honey?”
“Yeah, sure. She’s got friends back there; folks she knew where she went to school with Laura. Mebbe it’s the best thing for her to do. Jim ain’t got a lot of money, but he can afford it, I reckon. What do you figure on doin’, Joe?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Honey. I can’t make up my mind to anythin’. I just run in circles, and every way I turn there’s a blank wall ”

“ The Circle M ranged more stock than any of the other ranches and only carried three men besides Ed Merrick. Ben Collins, “Dutch” Siebert and Jack Ralston made up the personnel of the Circle M, since Len Kelsey had left them to take up his duties as deputy sheriff under Joe Rich.
IT WAS the morning following the wedding which had not taken place that Joe Rich rode up to the Flying H. All night long he had ridden across the hills, fighting out with himself to decide what to do, and he was a sorry-looking young man when he drew rein near the veranda of the Flying H ranch-house. ”

“ They separated and Merrick went to the Pinnacle Saloon, where he met Honey Bee. Honey had drunk enough to make him loquacious.
“Didja accept Joe’s resignation?” asked Honey.
“Nothin’ else to do,” replied Merrick. There was little love lost between these two men.
“Uh-huh.” Honey leaned against the bar and cuffed his hat to one side of his head.
“Who’sa sheriff now?”
“Len Kelsey.”
“O-o-o-oh, is that so? My, my! Things shore do change quick. If yuh had a lawyer and a doctor in yore Circle M, you’d kinda run the whole danged country, wouldn’t yuh?” ”

“ Chapter II
“Hanging is too good—” PINNACLE CITY was the oldest settlement in the Tumbling River country and had always been the county seat since the boundary lines had been drawn. Originally the place had been only a small settlement and the houses had been built along a wagon-road. ”

“ Five outfits ranged their stock in the Pinnacle City end of the Tumbling River range, the farthest away from town being Ed Merrick’s Circle M, located about eight miles due south. Midway between the town and the Circle M, and just on the east bank of Tumbling River, was Jim Wheeler’s HJ ranch. ”

“ Nobody expects ’em to do anythin’ but ride buckers. But they don’t know it, and the way them p’fessional bronc riders do talk! Mebbe they ain’t so much to blame, at that; but everythin’ is ‘I’ with ’em. ”