Page:Ritchie - Trails to Two Moons.djvu/154

 on the railroad, brought to this core of the Big Country internecine strife a new and potent actor. Yet so consistently did this field general of hidden forces follow his policy of unobtrusive penetration wherever he went that none of the knot of townsfolk and cow-punchers, gathered to watch the stage halt before the doors of the Occidental Hotel, recognized him. Had any attempted to follow recognition with a hail the stranger doubtless would have stared him out of countenance and passed on.

A sleepless night in the swaying stage up from the railroad point had touched the new-comer not at all. His bland unbearded features were as fresh and free from insomnia strain as a schoolboy's. A very wide mouth seemed perpetually cocked and primed for an ingratiating smile, but the hard gray eyes of him denied the genuineness of this consciously displayed tag of good humor. He wore the uniform of a politician,—for in the Big Country the broad-brimmed black Stetson, the black string tie and flaring tails of the Prince Albert have assumed for the wearer all the distinguishing importance of a uniform. He was, moreover, a great joiner; pins or fobs of at least