Page:MacLeod Raine - The Sheriff's Son.djvu/255

 "I'm through with you and Tighe. You 'll stop making trouble or you 'll get out of here. I'm going to clean up the park—going to make it a place where decent folks can live. You 've got yore warning now, Dan. Walk a straight chalk-line or hit the trail."

"You can't talk that way to me, Rutherford. I know too much," threatened Meldrum, baring his teeth.

"Don't think it for a minute, Dan. Who is going to take yore word against mine? I 've got the goods on you. I can put you through for rustling any time I have a mind to move. And if you don't let young Beaudry alone, I 'll do it."

"Am I the only man that ever rustled? Ain't there others in the park? I reckon you 've done some night-riding yore own self."

"Some," drawled Rutherford, with a grim little smile. "By and large, I 've raised a considerable crop of hell. But I'm reforming in my old age. New Mexico has had a change of heart. Guns are going out, Meldrum, and little red schoolhouses are coming in. We 've got to keep up with the fashions."

"Hmp! Schoolhouses! I know what's ailin' you. Since Anse Rutherford's girl—"