over everything, met the gaze of those who had caused the chaos.

Perry's Bend had failed to wipe out the score.




CHAPTER IV


The Vagrant Sioux


Buckskin gradually readjusted itself to the conditions which had
existed before its sudden leap into the limelight as a town which did
things. The soiree at the Houston House had drifted into the past, and
was now substantially established as an epoch in the history of the
town. Exuberant joy gave way to dignity and deprecation, and to solid
satisfaction; and the conversations across the bar brought forth
parallels of the affair to be judged impartially -and the impartial
judgment was, unanimously, that while there had undoubtedly been good
fights before Perry's Bend had disturbed the local quiet, they were
not quite up to the new standard of strenuous hospitality. Finally the
heat blistered everything back into the old state, and the shadows
continued to be in demand.

One afternoon, a month after the reception of the honorable
delegation from Perry's Bend, the town of Buckskin seemed desolated,
and the earth and the buildings thereon were as huge furnaces
radiating a visible heat, but when the blazing sun had begun to settle