"A man a day!" said Morgan, scarcely able to believe the news.
"Who was they?" Stilwell inquired, bringing his chair down from its easy slant against the sod wall, leaning forward to catch the particulars of this unequaled record of slaughter.
"I didn't hear," said Fred, panting faster than his hard-ridden horse.
"I hope none of the boys off of this range around here got into it with him," Stilwell said.
"They say he's closed up all the gamblin' joints and saloons but Peden's, and the bank's been shut four or five days, Judge Thayer and a bunch of fellers inside of it with rifles. Tom Conboy told me the judge had telegraphed to the governor asking him to send soldiers to restore law and order in the town."
"Law and order!" Stilwell scorned. "All the law and order they ever had in that hell-hole a man'd never miss."
"Where's the sheriff—what's he doing to restore order?" Morgan inquired.
"The sheriff ain't doin' nothing. I ain't been over there, but I know that much," Stilwell said.
"They say he's out after some rustlers," Fred replied.
"Yes, and he'll stay out till the trouble's over and come back without a hide or hair of a rustler. What else are they doin'?"