The man from bar-20 [antikvár]

CHAPTER I A stranger comes to hastings A horseman rode slowly out of a draw and up a steep, lava-covered ridge, singing " The Cowboy's Lament," to the disgust of his horse, which suddenly arched its back and stopped the song in the twenty- ninth verse. " Dearly Beloved," grinned the rider, after he had quelled the trouble, " yore protest is heeded. 4 Th' Lament' ceases, instanter ; an' while you crop some of that grass, I'll look around and observe th' scenery, which shore is scrambled. Now, them two buttes over there," leaning forward to look around a clump of brush, " if they ain't twins, I'll eat-" He ducked and dismounted in one swift movement to the vengeful tune of a screaming bullet over kis head, slapped the horse and jerked his rifle from its scabbard. As the horse leaped down the slope of the ridge there was no sign of any living thing to be seen on the trail. A bush rustled near the edge of a draw, a peeved voice softly cursed the cacti and Mexican locust; and a few minutes later the shadow of a black lava boulder grew suddenly fatter on one side. The cause of this sudden shadow growth lay prone under the bulging side of the great rock, peering out intently between two large stories ; and flaming curiosity consumed his soul. A stranger in a strange land, who rode innocently along a free trail and minded his own business, merited no guch a welcome as this. His promptness of action