his paper soon."

The stage had stopped to take on a mailsack. Now it started again, and
the rest of the talk was lost to Dave. But he had heard enough to guess
that the old feud between Crawford and Steelman had taken on a new phase,
one in which his friend was likely to get the worst of it.

At Malapi Dave descended from the stage into a town he hardly knew. It
had the same wide main street, but the business section extended five
blocks instead of one. Everywhere oil dominated the place. Hotels,
restaurants, and hardware stores jostled saloons and gambling-houses.
Tents had been set up in vacant lots beside frame buildings, and in them
stores, rooming-houses, and lunch-counters were doing business. Everybody
was in a hurry. The street was filled with men who had to sleep with one
eye open lest they miss the news of some new discovery.

The town was having growing-pains. One contractor was putting down
sidewalks in the same street where another laid sewer pipe and a third
put in telephone poles. A branch line of a trans-continental railroad was
moving across the desert to tap the new oil field. Houses rose overnight.
Mule teams jingled in and out freighting supplies to Malapi and from
there to the fields. On all sides were rustle, energy, and optimism,
signs of the new West in the making.

Up the street a team of half-broken broncos came on the gallop, weaving
among the traffic with a certainty that showed a skilled pair of hands
at the reins. From the buckboard stepped lightly a straight-backed,
well-muscled young fellow. He let out a moment later a surprised shout
of welcome and fell upon Sanders with two brown fists.

"Dave! Where in Mexico you been, old alkali? We been lookin' for you
everywhere."

"In Denver, Bob."

Sanders spoke quietly. His eyes went straight into those of Bob Hart to
see what was written there. He found only a glad and joyous welcome,
neither embarrassment nor any sign of shame.

"But why didn't you write and let us know?" Bob grew mildly profane in

Martha Finley (1828 - 1909) was a teacher and author of numerous works, the most well known being the 28 volume Elsie Dinsmore series which was published over a span of 38 years. The daughter of Presbyterian minister Dr. James Brown Finley and his wife and cousin Maria Theresa Brown Finley, she was born on April 26th, 1828 in Chillicothe, Ohio. Finley wrote many of her books under the psodonym Martha Farquharson. She died in 1909 in Elkton, Maryland, where she moved in 1876.

Anonymous may refer to: Anonymus, the Latin spelling, may refer to: