CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
IWATCHING THE LINE[1]
IIWHITE POINT[5]
IIITHE HOLD-UP[11]
IVAT THE FOOT OF AN AGED PINE[18]
VBOUND FOR THE SOUTHERN TRAIL[25]
VITHE MAN-HUNTERS[35]
VIICHARLIE BRYANT[43]
VIIITHE SOUL-SAVERS[53]
IXTHE “STRAY”-HUNTER[64]
XTHE BROTHERS[73]
XITHE UNREGENERATE[79]
XIITHE DISCOMFITURE OF HELEN[91]
XIIILIGHT-HEARTED SOULS[73]
XIVTHE HOUSE OF DIRTY O’BRIEN[110]
XVADVENTURES IN THE NIGHT[120]
XVIFURTHER ADVENTURES[128]
XVIIBILL PEEPS UNDER THE SURFACE[137]
XVIIITHE ARM OUTREACHING[142]
XIXBILL MAKES THREE DISCOVERIES[155]
XXIN THE FAR REACHES[166]
XXIWORD FROM HEADQUARTERS[176]
XXIIMOVES IN THE GAME OF LOVE[184]
XXIIISTORM CLOUDS[195]
XXIVTHE SOUL OF A MAN[206]
XXVTHE BROKEN CHAIN[215]
XXVIROCKY SPRINGS HEARS THE NEWS[221]
XXVIIAT THE HIDDEN CORRAL[235]
XXVIIIA WAGER[241]
XXIXBILL’S FRESH BLUNDERING[256]
XXXTHE COMMITTEE DECIDE[261]
XXXIANTAGONISTS[265]
XXXIITREACHERY[272]
XXXIIIPLAYING THE GAME[278]
XXXIVAN ENCOUNTER[286]
XXXVON MONDAY NIGHT[296]
XXXVISTILL MONDAY NIGHT[296]
XXXVIITHE NIGHT TRAIL[299]
XXXVIIITHE FALL OF THE OLD PINE[307]
XXXIXFROM THE ASHES[315]
XLTHE DAWN[327]

THE LAW-BREAKERS

CHAPTER I

WATCHING THE LINE

There was no shade anywhere. The terrible glare of the summer sun beat down upon the whole length of the wooden platform at Amberley. Hot as was the dry, bracing air, it was incomparable with the blistering intensity of heat reflected from the planking, which burned through to the soles of the feet of the uniformed man who paced its length, slowly, patiently.

This sunburnt, gray-eyed man, with his loose, broad shoulders, his powerful, easy-moving limbs, seemed quite indifferent to the irritating climatic conditions of the moment. Even the droning of the worrying mosquitoes had no power to disturb him. Like everything else unpleasant in this distant northwestern land, he accepted these things as they came, and brushed them aside for the more important affairs he was engaged upon.