fear of the bloody revenges they did not hesitate to take, that not one
of them had yet been convicted of crime.

Faustin Dysert, who had organized the society and was still its head,
combined in himself the worst tendencies of both Mexicans and
Americans, his mother having been of one race and his father of the
other, and both of the sort that reflect no credit upon their
offspring. But he owned the house in which he lived and two or three
other adobes which he rented, and was therefore lifted above the
necessity of labor and held in much regard by his fellow Mexicans. The
combination of that influence and the favor of the political boss of
his party, to whom he had been of use, had made him chief of police of
Santa Fé and had kept him in that office for several years. And he had
been careful to recruit his force from the membership of his society.

Tuttle knew that he could not count on any open help or sympathy from
the public, for no one would dare to invite thus frankly the disfavor
of the gang. And he knew, too, that he could expect to get no more
information from leaky members of the society or their friends, since
that swift punishment had been meted out to the wagging tongue of
Felipe Vigil. He was well aware also that his chief, the United States
Marshal, had not been zealous in the pursuit of Dysert's criminals, and
that Black's friend, Congressman Dellmey Baxter, was known to have
under his protection several members of the society. Therefore, if he
bungled the job, he was likely to lose his official head; and if he
were not swift and sure in his movements against the gang, his physical
head would not be worth the lead that would undoubtedly come crashing
into it from behind, before the end of the week.

"The thing for us to do, Tommy," advised Ellhorn, "is to take in all