He was making an heroic effort,
though--an effort that made the cords of his neck stand out lividly;
that swelled his muscles into knotty bunches.
"Damn it!" he growled as he turned his head away from Ruth and Mrs.
Lawler, so that they might not see what was reflected there; "there
ain't no sense of him gettin' mush-headed about it!"
CHAPTER XXXV
HAUNTING MEMORIES
It was many days before Lawler was strong enough to ride Red King to the
Circle L; and many more days joined the regiments that have marched into
the ages, before he forgot what he saw in Blackburn's eyes when one day,
soon after his return to the Circle L, he listened to the range boss
relate the story of the fight on the plains. Blackburn's cynical eyes
had changed expression. They had become tragic, strained, as though the
man was striving to blot out mental pictures that were detailed
there--pictures that memory persisted in drawing.
He rode with Lawler to the scene of the fight, and showed him where the
Circle L outfit had brought the rustlers to bay.
"After Shorty left," said Blackburn; "me insistin' on him goin', an' him
blackguardin' me for sendin' him, there was a little time when nothin'
happened. Then the day broke, an' everything seemed to happen at once.
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