Of course the three who were hiding in the strong room were also taken in hand, and would at least be warned never to show their faces again around that cattle section. It was the sheriff himself who took the key, and escorted the inmates of the store-room to the outside air. They happened to arrive just when Mr. Thomas was begging Mr. Comstock to allow him the use of a horse taken from the rustlers so that he could accompany the posse back to town, in order to keep an engagement he had just thought of.
As the three renegades and the lady of the house suddenly appeared in view the ragged pilgrim tried to escape observation; but there was a shriek from Mrs. Fred, who, rushing forward, penned him in a corner; and to the wonder of all the rest clasped her arms about him, voicing her astonishment and delight:
“Why, Thomas Smeed, then you ain’t dead after all, and that report was a lie! I actually believe you got it up a purpose to deceive your lawfully wedded wife, and make her believe she might be a widow. But after all I reckon I was happier
with you than I’ve been since I married that fightin’ stockman, Fred Comstock. Course since you’re alive, and there ain’t been no divorce, I’m still your own wife. No use trying to get away, Thomas; you just got to go with me, d’ye hear? I own a little farm away down in Kansas that I bought with my savings; and there we’ll go and try it all over again. So that’s settled, and a good riddance I say. I likes a husband as don’t fight back when a lady wants something done.”
And sure enough, when she did leave Bar-S Ranch on the next morning, with a wagonload of stuff which Mr. Comstock only too gladly allowed her to take away, poor Thomas was sitting alongside on the seat, looking the most forlorn man on earth.
Of course all his actions were explained now, for as soon as he discovered that the woman who had once made life miserable for him was installed as the mistress of the ranch, his desire to take service with Mr. Comstock had oozed from the tips of his fingers; and his only thought was to escape without his identity being disclosed.
But Fate had been too much for him; and Thomas had to be resigned.
The stockman was acting like a boy, such was his delight at the way things had turned out. Once again he was free, and a bachelor, with no one to please but himself and his employer. Of course he immediately made a new contract with his
nephew; and from the way he took hold it was certain that things would boom from that hour, until the Bar-S Ranch far exceeded its most productive year.
Before the three boys left things had all been cleared up, and peace reigned in the county which had fast been becoming known as the most riotous in all Wyoming.