It kept up long after there could have been any possibility of life under the ruins of that house.

It was more than hate of Steele.

All that was wild and lawless and violent hurled this deed at the Ranger Service.
Such events had happened before in Texas and other states; but, strangely, they never happened more than once in one locality.

They were expressions, perhaps, that could never come but once.
I watched Steele through all that hideous din, that manifestation of insane rage at his life and joy at his death, and when silence once more reigned and he turned his white face to mine, I had a sensation of dread.

And dread was something particularly foreign to my nature.
"So Blome and the Sneckers think they've done for me," he muttered.
"Pleasant surprise for them to-morrow, eh, old man ?" I queried.
"To-morrow?
Look, Russ, what's left of my old 'dobe house is on fire.