I am not
good at lecturing, but if I were you, I would make this the
turning-point in my life."
Foster was much moved.
"I will do it, Major," said he; "and I shall never forget what you have
done for me to-day. I am sure we shall meet again."
With another shriek from the whistle the train started. Sinclair and Sam
saw the men quietly returning the firearms to their places as it
gathered way. Then they walked back to their quarters. The men on the
_mesa_, balked of their purpose, had withdrawn.
Sam accompanied Sinclair to his door, and then sententiously remarked:
"Major, I think I'll light out and find some of the boys. You ain't got
no call to know anything about it, but I allow it's about time them
cusses was bounced."
Three nights after this, a powerful party of _Vigilantes_, stern and
inexorable, made a raid on all the gambling dens, broke the tables and
apparatus, and conducted the men to a distance from the town, where they
left them with an emphatic and concise warning as to the consequences
of any attempt to return. An exception was made in Jeff Johnson's
case--but only for the sake of his daughter--for it was found that many
a "little game" had been carried on in his house.
Erelong he found it convenient to sell his business and retire to a town
some miles to the eastward, where the railroad influence was not as
strong as at Barker's.
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