At the conclusion of the visit the keen-eyed man grinned.
"You've started something, Lawler," he said.

"We've heard something of this, but we've been waiting to see just how general it was.

You'll understand, now, why I was so eager to have you run last fall.

You'll not escape so easily next time!" Late that night Lawler got off the train at Willets; and a few minutes later he was talking with Caldwell and the others in the Willets Hotel.
"It's a frame-up, men," he told them.

"Hatfield and the governor both subscribe to the same sentiments, which are to the effect that this is a free country--meaning that if you don't care to accept what the buyers offer you can drive your cattle out of the state or let them starve to death on the open range." The big hanging-lamp swinging from the ceiling of the lounging-room flickered a dull light into the faces of the men, revealing lines that had not been in them some hours before.