The hush which rested over Rickett
was never broken except in the periods immediately after the spring and
fall round-ups when the saloons and gaming tables were suddenly flooded
with business. Otherwise it was a rare event indeed which injected
excitement into the village.
Such an event was the gathering of Sheriff Pete Glass' posse.
There had been other occasions when Pete and officers before his time had
combed the county to get the cream of the fighting men, but the gathering
of the new posse became different in many ways. In the first place the call
for members was not confined to the county, for though it stretched as
large as many a minor European kingdom, it had not the population of a
respectable manufacturing town, and Pete Glass went far beyond its bounds
to get his trailers. Everywhere he had the posters set up and on the
posters appeared the bait. The state began the game with a reward of three
thousand dollars; the county plastered two thousand dollars on top of that
to make it an even five: then the town of Alder dug into its deep pockets
and produced twenty-five hundred, while disinterested parties added
contributions which swelled the total to a round ten thousand.
Pages:
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248