The Land Office was yet at Ellisville, and the rush of settlers was continuous.

The men who came out from the East wore wide hats and carried little guns; but when they found the men of Ellisville wearing small, dark hats and carrying no guns at all, they saw that which was not to be believed, and which was, therefore, not so written in the literary centres which told the world about the Ellisvilles.

Strangers asked Ellisville about the days of the cattle drive, and Ellisville raised its eminently respectable eyebrows.

There was a faint memory of such a time, but it was long, long ago.

Two years ago! All the world had changed since then.