She pressed closer to him, holding more tightly to his arm, stunned and confused by the fierce uproar.

The stranger steadily pushing ahead of them, and opening a path for their passage, fascinated her, and her eyes watched him curiously.

His name was an oddly familiar one, associated in vague memory with some of the most desperate deeds ever witnessed in the West, yet always found on the side of law and order; it was difficult to conceive that this quiet-spoken, mild-eyed, gently smiling man could indeed be the most famous gun fighter on the border, hated, feared, yet thoroughly respected, by every desperado between the Platte and the Canadian.

Beyond the glare and glitter of the Metropolitan Dance Hall the noisy crowd thinned away somewhat, and the marshal ventured to drop back beside Fairbain, yet vigilantly watched every approaching face.
"Town appears unusually lively to-night, Bill," observed the latter gravely, "and the boys have got an early start." "West end graders just paid off," was the reply.

"They have been whoopin' it up ever since noon, and are beginning to get ugly.