Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/246

 of sympathy. Cattle and horse thievin' must be stomped out in this community, and it's up to you to do the stompin'.

"The name of Las Verdas County has allus been kept pretty nigh as pure and unpolluted as its air, all except them seventeen rustlers what was swung over the bluff. And how has it been kept so?"

The five jailbirds looked at each other. The judge answered for them:

"By our untiring and ceaseless vigilance! In other words, to use the picturesque vernacular of the community in which we reside, by flyin' down and bitin' a piece out of a rustler whenever we see one. Shall we set back and let a rambunctious son of Texas come in here and give the fairest spot on God's green earth a black eye by makin' it onsafe for an honest man to own a hoof of stock? Prisoner, stand up and tell the court your name."

The "rambunctious" son of Texas unfolded his six feet of body and faced the judge.

"Ben Evans."

"Ben Evans." The judge's face assumed an expression of cunning. "Were that your name where you came from, or one what