CHAPTER XVII
THE MADNESS OF BILL STEELE
IN and about the Thunder River country folk began to speak of the madness of Bill Steele. Certainly he had come upon the Queen's Ranch with a chip on his shoulder, certainly he had in more than one way offended her, certainly he was seeking, in the face of her stubborn opposition, to accomplish some very absurd things. At least so said they who watched with interest.
In brief here are some of the bits of gossip which Timber-Jack carried to Mucker, Mucker to Cowboy, Cowboy to Farmer Brown, Farmer Brown into the Emporiums through which flowed the blood of the Sierra:
Steele was a gambler, whose profession it was to take big chances, whose winnings were the crooked winnings of his class; he was the actual spirit giving life to the string of gambling houses through the mountains, for at last Flash Truitt of the Summit City saloon had published the fact. In some underhand fashion Steele had acquired eighty acres of land about Hell's Goblet, planning other mystery-shrouded, underhand attacks upon the Queen's Ranch. (It was whispered that he was a sluice robber; also that he might be looked to for cattle thieving, using his ill gotten eighty acres as an outlet for his thefts; also that down in Mexico, tak-
176
