come riding down the trail, to pull up short within two hundred yards, wave his hat for them to come on, and turned to lead the way which he was keeping with such admirable poise.
How this unassuming young man, who was so green in spots the bark hadn't set, could push aside an organized opposition of such strength passed the cattlemen's conjecture. He hoped Dunham had not gone too strong on the force he had back of him, which soon must be revealed to the Kansans, who outnumbered them almost three to one.
If Hughes advanced into Kansas with more than a little trepidation he could not be blamed. It seemed unreasonable to a man who had been denied the passage of that road less than an hour before, that the program was to go on without sudden and serious hitch. He had come over there expecting to fight; the grim set of his face, his stern and watchful eyes, showed him ready to stand for his rights, now he had made the beginning to claim them. But he was an uneasy man; there was a strain on him as if each nerve of his body suspended a thousand pounds. Trouble was due to break when Dunham passed that crowd. Hughes felt it to be as certain as thunder after lightning.
Moore was not in the road, nor anywhere to the front, as Dunham approached the surly Kansas cowmen; he didn't step out to accept the challenge Dunham had given in his parting words. Dunham saw him among the others, and he had a look of thunder in his face, but he stayed where he was as Bill rode by and passed on, eyes straight ahead.
