From time to time others dropped in, most of them remaining outside in the moonlight, sitting on their heels along the porch, talking but little, and then mentioning anything but the one subject which was uppermost in every one's mind.

Yet, though nothing was said, it might well be seen that this little body of men were of those who had taken the stand for law and order, and who were resolved upon a new day in the history of the town.
It was a battle of the two hotels and what they represented.

Over at the great barroom of the Cottage there was at the same time assembled a much larger gathering, composed chiefly of those transient elements which at that time really made up the larger portion of the population of the place--wide-hatted men, with narrow boots and broad belts at which swung heavy, blued revolvers with broad wooden butts--a wild-looking, wild-living body of men, savage in some ways, gentle in others, but for the most part just, according to their creed.

The long bar was crowded, and outside the door many men were standing along the wide gallery.

They, too, were reticent.