THE BAD MAN



mere adventurers; they were pioneers. They were
of the best stuff that America contained-clean-
cut, clear-eyed, with level heads and high hearts.
Yet their own Government did not think enough
of them to offer them the sure protection they were
entitled to.
  Gilbert looked back on that distant day when he
had gone up to Bisbee and purchased four head of
cattle, and brought them himself to this ranch he
had purchased, happy as only a fool is happy.
Within a week they had mysteriously disappeared.
  Rumors of Mexican thieves and assassins had
come to him, as they had come to all the young
land-owners along the line. He recalled how, after
one raid, in which a good citizen had been foully
murdered in his bed, he had called a meeting of the
ranchers in their section, and with one voice they
agreed to send a protest to Washington.
  They did so. Nothing happened. An aching
silence followed. They wrote again; and then one
day a pale acknowledgment of their communica-
tion came in one of those long and important-
looking unstamped envelopes. It seemed very
official, very impressive. But mere looks never
helped any cause. They were not naive enough to
expect the Secretary of State to come down in



6