Chapter XV

Change Of Masters

The interior of the shack was comparatively
bare. On the floor, which was of adobe, and
therefore hard and smooth as cement, were five
three-legged stools and a table, all crude and evidently
shaped out of saplings from the grove.
There was but a single window, high up, tiny and
square, containing neither glass nor frame, which
looked out upon the south. Built against the
walls were some shelves, upon which lay a scant
supply of tinware, and in the opposite wall was
a tier of bunks, just now littered with soiled
blankets. Evidently this place had sheltered these
men frequently, for each moved about it with
easy familiarity, and obviously it was a retreat,
a rendezvous, a hiding-place against the range
police.

A game of cards was about to be started. The
three men were seated round the table, and before
two of them -- the younger man, Jim, and
the heavy-set man, the leader, Johnson -- was
an even distribution of chips. The third man,
Glover, was smoking a short-stemmed pipe, evidently
having been cut out of the play.

[[175]]

p174 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p175w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p176

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