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Published in 2017 by Britannica Educational Publishing (a trademark of
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.) in association with The Rosen Publishing Group,
Inc.
29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010

Copyright © 2017 by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Britannica, Encyclopædia

Britannica, and the Thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.

Rosen Publishing materials copyright © 2017 The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. All
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Distributed exclusively by Rosen Publishing.

To see additional Britannica Educational Publishing titles, go to
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First Edition

Britannica Educational Publishing

J.E. Luebering: Executive Director, Core Editorial
Anthony L. Green: Editor, Compton’s by Britannica

Rosen Publishing
Julia Chandler: Editor
Nelson Sá: Art Director
Ellina Litmanovich: Designer
Cindy Reiman: Photography Manager
Bruce Donnola: Photo Researcher

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Chandler, Julia, 1988- editor.

Title: Richard Nixon / edited by Julia Chandler.
Description: First edition. | New York : Britannica Educational Publishing in
association with Rosen Educational Services, 2017. | Series: Pivotal presidents:
profiles in leadership | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Audience:
Grades 7-12.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015050690 | ISBN 9781680485165 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994. | Presidents--
United States—Biography. | United States--Politics and government--1969-1974.
Classification: LCC E856 .R55 2016 | DDC 973.924092--dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015050690
Photo credits: Cover, pp. 3 (portrait), 6 The White House/Archive Photos/Getty
Images; cover, p. 3 (background) Hulton Archive/Archive Photos/Getty Images;
cover, pp. 1, 3 (flag) © iStockphoto.com/spxChrome; p. 11 Popperfoto/Getty
Images; p. 17, 29, 41, 51, 54, 59, 66 © AP Images; p. 18 Fox Photos/Hulton
Archive/Getty Images; pp. 19, 24 Everett Collection Historical/Alamy Stock Photo;
p. 21 MPI/Archive Photos/Getty Images; p. 27 George Silk/The LIFE Picture
Collection/Getty Images; p. 31 © TopFoto/The Image Works; p. 32 Ralph
Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images; p. 35 Oliver F. Atkin/White House
Photo/Nixon Presidential Library and Museum/NARA; p. 39 Daily Express/Archive
Photos/Getty Images; p. 44 Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images; p. 45 AFP/Getty
Images; p. 47 © George W. Gardner/The Image Works; p. 57 The Washington
Post/Getty Images; p. 62 Hulton Archive/Getty Images; p. 64 Album/SuperStock;
p. 68 Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images; interior pages flag Fedorov
Oleksiy/Shutterstock.com.
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 EARLY LIFE AND CAREER

CHAPTER 2 CONGRESS AND VICE PRESIDENCY
CHAPTER 3 PRESIDENCY
CHAPTER 4 WATERGATE AND RESIGNATION
CONCLUSION
GLOSSARY
FOR MORE INFORMATION
FOR FURTHER READING
INDEX
 INTRODUCTION

Nixon’s presidency was cut short when the Watergate scandal forced
him to resign.

In 1968, in a political comeback unprecedented in American history,

Richard Nixon was elected the 37th president of the United States.
Midway through his second term, however, his presidency came to a
crushing halt. Facing a growing scandal and the prospect of
impeachment, he became the first president to resign from office.
 Nixon’s 1968 victory followed two major political defeats. In his
first bid for the presidency in 1960, the Democratic candidate, John
F. Kennedy, narrowly defeated him. Two years later he lost his
campaign for the governorship of his home state of California. He
then temporarily retired from politics to practice law.
Before the election of 1960, Nixon’s political career had been a
series of unbroken successes. He was elected to the United States
Congress in 1946 and entered the United States Senate as its
youngest member in 1951. Two years later, at 39, he became the
nation’s second youngest vice president and served two terms under
Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Nominated for president again in 1968, Nixon won 301 electoral
votes to defeat Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey. He spent much
of his first term focusing on foreign policy. Through negotiations led
by National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese
Foreign Minister Le Duc Tho, U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War at
last came to an end in early 1973. Meanwhile, Nixon reestablished
diplomatic relations between the United States and China, which had
halted after communists took control of China 21 years earlier. He
was the first sitting president to visit China. In domestic policy, he
reformed welfare policy, instituted the first affirmative action
program, and battled inflation.
Renominated in 1972, Nixon polled a record 46 million popular
votes and won 49 states. George McGovern, the Democratic
candidate, received only 17 electoral votes. It was a landslide victory
for Nixon. Yet by 1974 his impeachment seemed inevitable as a
result of political scandals involving his staff.
During his reelection campaign, five burglars hired by the
Committee to Reelect the President were arrested at the Democratic
National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office-apartment-
hotel complex in Washington, D.C. As the investigation continued,
the Nixon Administration tried to cover up its connection to the
burglary. In the summer of 1973 it was revealed that Nixon had
taped conversations in the Oval Office. These tapes were then
subpoenaed, but the president released only some of them.
 The growing allegations against him led the House of
Representatives to recommend three articles of impeachment
charging Nixon with obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and
failure to comply with congressional subpoenas. On August 5, 1974,
Nixon finally released transcripts of three tapes that clearly
implicated him in the cover-up. With this evidence, Nixon’s
impeachment by the House, and then conviction by the Senate, was
almost assured. Rather than be forced from office, he resigned three
days later, thus bringing an ignominious end to his political career.
 CHAPTER 1

Early Life and Career

ichard Milhous Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, a farming village

R in Orange County, California, on January 9, 1913. He was the
second of five sons of Francis (Frank) Anthony Nixon and
Hannah Milhous Nixon.

FAMILY HISTORY
Frank Nixon came from a Scots-Irish farming family. He was a
descendant of James Nixon, who emigrated from Ireland to settle in
Delaware in 1753. One member of the Nixon family served in the
American Revolution. Another was killed in the battle of Gettysburg
in the American Civil War.
Richard’s father, who was born near McArthur, Ohio, had to go to
work after having had only about six years of school. His last job in
Ohio was as a streetcar motorman. One winter day his feet were
frostbitten in the car, and he decided to move to a warmer climate.
In Whittier, California, he took a job running a trolley.
 Young Richard Nixon (right) with his parents and brothers Harold (left)
and Francis Donald, 1916.

Whittier was founded in 1887 as a Quaker settlement and named

for the Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier. Here Frank Nixon met
Hannah Milhous, his future wife. Hannah was one of nine children of
Franklin Milhous, whose ancestors had emigrated from Germany to
England and then to Ireland. Quakers in search of religious freedom,
they came to Pennsylvania in 1729. When Hannah Milhous was born,
her parents lived near Butlerville, Indiana. They moved to California
in 1897.
Frank and Hannah met at a Quaker meetinghouse party in
February 1908. Four months later they were married. Frank, who
had been reared as a Methodist, became a Quaker. Their first son,
Harold, was born in 1909.

CHILDHOOD IN YORBA LINDA AND WHITTIER

The year before Richard was born, his father bought land in Yorba
Linda. Here he built a house and started a lemon grove. Richard’s
brothers Francis Donald and Arthur were also born in Yorba Linda.
The citrus-fruit venture proved unsuccessful, and after ten years’
struggle the family returned to Whittier. There the last of the Nixon
children, Edward, was born in 1930.
In Whittier, Frank Nixon set up a gas station, where he also
began to sell a few groceries. Later he bought an old Quaker
meetinghouse, which he moved next to the station to serve as a
combination market and home. The business was a family
enterprise. As soon as the boys were old enough, they helped in the
store and in the station. Here young Richard learned his first lessons
in dealing with the public. “I sold gas and delivered groceries and
met a lot of people. I think this was invaluable as a start on a public
career,” Nixon said later.
Richard’s mother, a devout Quaker, was patient, kind, and
conscientious. His father was a rather severe man whose chief
interest was politics. Frank Nixon’s love of debate turned the market
into a neighborhood club. At an age when most children are reading
fairy tales, young Richard took an interest in politics and began
reading the newspapers. He also absorbed his father’s fondness for
debate. While the boy was still in grammar school, his father helped
him prepare his first public debate: “Resolved: It is more economical
to rent a house than to own one.”
Much of the Nixons’ life centered upon religious activities. They
went to the Quaker meetinghouse three times on Sunday and also
attended Wednesday services. The boy, who had begun piano
lessons at age seven, also played the church organ. One of the
highlights of the year for the Nixon children was the Christmas
reunion at Grandmother Milhous’ home in Whittier. Richard was her
favorite grandchild.
The Nixon family had its share of tragedy. Arthur, the second
youngest boy, died when he was seven. When Richard was in high
school, his older brother, Harold, contracted tuberculosis. In an effort
to better Harold’s health, his mother took him to Arizona for two
years; however, he died in 1933.
While Hannah Nixon was away, Richard and his brother Francis
Donald helped their father run the household and business. Richard
was in charge of fruits and vegetables. Every morning he got up at
4:00 AM, drove 12 miles (19 km) to the produce market, and
arranged the counter before school.

Nixon’s Quakerism
Quakers belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a Christian
denomination founded by George Fox in England in 1652. They
have no ritual, sacraments, or ordained clergy. They appoint elders
and overseers to serve at each meeting. Men and women who have
received a “gift” are called recorded ministers. Meetings for worship
are characterized by patient silence in which members wait for
inspiration to speak as the “Inward Light”—the direct inner
awareness of God—moves them.
Quakers oppose war because they feel that it causes spiritual
damage through hatred. Most Quakers therefore refuse to perform
military service and are excused as conscientious objectors.
However, individuals follow their own convictions. Nixon, for
example, chose to join the Navy during World War II.
Nixon’s commitment to his Quaker roots was often inconsistent.
On the one hand, his pacifist upbringing may have inspired his
efforts as president to end the Vietnam War and establish more
peaceful relations with China and the Soviet Union. As he stated in
his first inaugural address, “The greatest honor history can bestow
is the title of peacemaker.”
On the other hand, Nixon may have distorted the Quaker belief
that individuals have their own personal relationship with God to
justify doing whatever he wanted as president. Journalist David
Frost interviewed Nixon in 1977 and asked him about illegal
wiretappings and break-ins that he had approved as president.
 Nixon responded, “When the president does it, that means it is not
illegal.” He clarified that the president cannot “run amok” because
he must answer to the electorate and Congress. However, this
statement still reveals that Nixon believed his powers as president
had few limits, which may explain why he thought he would get
away with covering up the Watergate scandal that led to his
resignation.

COLLEGE AND LAW CAREER

At 17 Richard entered Whittier College, a Quaker institution that his
mother had attended. In his first year he was elected president of
his class and of a new fraternity, the Orthogonians. As a sophomore
he represented Whittier in more than 50 debates, winning most of
them. He became president of the student body during his senior
year. He was also active in dramatics. In small groups he was
reserved, but he lost his shyness when he faced a crowd. His major
subject, history, was easy for him, but he had to work hard at
science and mathematics. Nevertheless, he was second in his class
when he graduated in 1934.
 Nixon was a backup lineman on the football team at Whittier College.

Richard’s ambition was to become a lawyer, but his brother’s long

illness had exhausted the family’s savings. However, his good college
record and the recommendations of his teachers enabled him to win
a scholarship to Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina.
In Durham Nixon shared a $25-a-semester apartment with three
other students. To help pay his living expenses, he worked in the
college library. His classmates called him “Nix” or “Gloomy Gus”
because of his tendency to brood. At Duke his leadership was soon
recognized. He was elected president of the student body and in his
final year became president of the Duke Bar Association. In June
1937 he graduated third in his class.
Five months later Nixon was admitted to the California bar. He
joined the firm of Wingert and Bewley in Whittier. A short time after
that it became Bewley, Knoop, and Nixon.
 Nixon at the law offices of Bewley, Knoop, and Nixon, c. 1945.

MARRIAGE AND MILITARY LIFE

In the Whittier little theater group Nixon met “Pat” Ryan, a new
teacher at the town high school. On June 21, 1940, two years after
their first meeting, they were married.
 Richard and Pat Nixon pose with their marriage license.

Thelma Catherine Patricia Ryan was born on March 16, 1912, in

Ely, Nevada. Her father, a silver miner, nicknamed her Pat. When she
was a year old, the family moved to a 10-acre (4-hectare) truck farm
in California, where she grew up. She was 13 at the time of her
mother’s death and 17 when her father died.
After a year at Fullerton Junior College, Pat drove an elderly
couple to New York City, intending to stay only briefly. Instead, in
1931–32 she worked in a New York hospital, first as a secretary,
then as an X-ray technician. She used her savings to enter the
University of Southern California. While in college she played bit
parts in movies. She graduated in 1937 and began her teaching
career. After the Nixons were married, Pat continued to teach. The
couple would have two daughters: Patricia (called Tricia), born on
February 21, 1946, and Julie, born on July 5, 1948.
 A few weeks after the United States entered World War II, Nixon
went to Washington, D.C. In January 1942 he took a job with the
Office of Price Administration. Two months later he applied for a
Navy commission, and in September 1942 he was commissioned a
lieutenant, junior grade. During much of the war he served as an
operations officer with the South Pacific Combat Air Transport
Command, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander.

Nixon (third from left) during his Navy service in the Pacific.
 CHAPTER 2

Congress and Vice Presidency

fter the war Nixon returned to the United States, where he was
A assigned to work on Navy contracts while awaiting discharge.
He was working in Baltimore, Maryland, when he received a
telephone call that changed his life. A Republican citizen’s
committee in Whittier was considering Nixon as a candidate for
Congress in the 12th Congressional District. In December 1945
Nixon accepted the candidacy with the promise that he would “wage
a fighting, rocking, socking campaign.”
Jerry Voorhis, a Democrat who had represented the 12th District
since 1936, was running for reelection. Earlier in his career Voorhis
had been an active socialist. He had become more conservative over
the years and was now an outspoken opponent of communism.
Despite Voorhis’s anticommunist stand, the Los Angeles chapter of
the left-wing Political Action Committee (PAC) endorsed him,
apparently without his knowledge or approval.
The theme of Nixon’s campaign was “a vote for Nixon is a vote
against the communist-dominated PAC.” The approach was
successful. On November 5, 1946, Richard Nixon won his first
political election.

THE HISS CASE

As a freshman congressman, Nixon was assigned to the House Un-
American Activities Committee. In this capacity he heard the
testimony of Whittaker Chambers, a self-confessed former
communist espionage agent, in August 1948. Chambers named
Alger Hiss, a foreign policy adviser during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s
presidency, as an accomplice.
Hiss, a former State Department aide, asked for and obtained a
hearing before the committee. He made a favorable impression, and
the case would then have been dropped if not for Nixon, who urged
investigation into Hiss’s testimony on his relationship with Chambers.

Nixon (right) and investigator Robert Stripling examine the so-called

“Pumpkin Papers,” microfilm that showed Alger Hiss had shared
secret State Department documents.
 The committee let Nixon pursue the case behind closed doors.
He brought Chambers and Hiss face to face. Chambers produced
evidence proving that Hiss had passed State Department secrets to
him. Among the exhibits were rolls of microfilm that Chambers had
hidden in a pumpkin on his farm near Westminster, Maryland, as a
precaution against theft. On December 15, 1948, a New York federal
grand jury indicted Hiss for perjury. After two trials he was
convicted, on January 21, 1950, and sentenced to five years in
prison. The Hiss case made Nixon nationally famous.
While the case was still in the courts, Nixon decided to run for
the Senate. In his 1950 senatorial campaign, he attacked the Harry
S. Truman Administration and his opponent, Helen Gahagan
Douglas, for being “soft” toward the communists. After his campaign
distributed “pink sheets” comparing Douglas’s voting record to that
of Vito Marcantonio, a left-wing representative from New York, the
Independent Review, a small Southern California newspaper,
nicknamed him “Tricky Dick.” The epithet later became a favorite
among Nixon’s opponents.
Nixon won the election by 680,000 votes, and at 38 he became
the youngest member of the Senate. His Senate career was
uneventful, and he was able to concentrate all his efforts on the
upcoming 1952 presidential election.

THE “SECRET FUND”

Nixon did his work well. He hammered hard at three main issues—
the war in Korea, communism in government, and the high cost of
the Democratic Party’s programs. At their 1952 national convention,
the Republicans chose him as Eisenhower’s running mate, to balance
the ticket with a West Coast conservative.
Only a few days after the young senator’s triumph, his political
career seemed doomed. The New York Post printed a story headed
“Secret Rich Men’s Trust Fund Keeps Nixon in Style Far Beyond His
Salary.” The public was shocked. The Republicans were panic-
stricken. Prominent members of the party urged Eisenhower to
dump Nixon before it was too late.
There was really nothing secret about the fund. Nixon was a man
of limited means, and when he won his Senate seat, a group of
businessmen had publicly solicited funds to enable him to keep in
touch with the voters in his home state while he served in the
Senate. Nixon took his case directly to the people in a nationwide
television address. He invited investigation of his finances and
explained that no donor had asked for or received any favors. To
demonstrate that he had not enriched himself in office, he listed his
family’s financial assets and liabilities in embarrassing detail, noting
that his wife, Pat, unlike the wives of so many Democratic politicians,
did not own a fur coat but only “a respectable Republican cloth
coat.”

Nixon’s famous “Checkers speech” was broadcast on television on

September 23, 1952.

The best-remembered part of his speech was his admission that

an admirer had once sent the Nixons a small cocker spaniel named
Checkers. “The kids love that dog, and I want to say right now that
regardless of what they say, we’re going to keep it,” he declared.
The speech was a political triumph. Eisenhower asked Nixon to
come to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he was campaigning. The
president-to-be met his running mate at the airport with the words
“Dick, you’re my boy.” The Republicans won by a landslide.

VICE PRESIDENCY
The only duties listed for the vice president in the Constitution are to
preside over the Senate and to vote if there is a tie. During his two
terms as vice president, Nixon campaigned actively for Republican
candidates but otherwise did not assume significant responsibilities.
(Asked at a press conference to describe Nixon’s contributions to his
administration’s policies, Eisenhower replied: “If you give me a
week, I might think of one.”)
However, Nixon regularly attended Cabinet meetings and
meetings of the National Security Council. In the absence of the
president he presided over these sessions. Thus Nixon was able to
assume the president’s duties when Eisenhower was incapacitated
by illness—after a major heart attack in 1955, abdominal surgery in
1956, and a mild stroke in 1957. Eisenhower made an agreement
with Nixon on the powers and responsibilities of the vice president in
the event of presidential disability. The agreement was accepted by
later administrations until the adoption of the Twenty-fifth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1967.
During his eight years as vice president, Nixon made a series of
goodwill tours that took him to every continent. In 1958 he faced
rioting, rock-throwing mobs in Peru and Venezuela. In 1959 he
engaged the Soviet Union’s premier, Nikita Khrushchev, in an
impromptu, profanity-filled debate in Moscow. It was known as the
“kitchen debate” because it took place at the kitchen exhibit of the
American National Exhibition in Sokolniki Park.
 Nixon (front right) and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev (front left)
argued at the American National Exhibition in Moscow on July 24,
1959.

A “POLITICAL OBITUARY”
In 1960 the Republican Party chose its vice president to run for the
nation’s highest office. His running mate was Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.,
a veteran of eight years as ambassador to the United Nations. Voters
turned out in record numbers. When the 68 million votes were
counted, John F. Kennedy had become the nation’s first Roman
Catholic president, and Richard Nixon had lost the presidential race
by the narrow margin of about 100,000 votes. Nixon got 49.55
percent of the vote; Kennedy, 49.71 percent. Nixon carried 26 states
for a total of 219 electoral votes. Kennedy carried 22 states and
received 303 electoral votes.

The 1960 Presidential Debates

The highlight of the 1960 campaign was an unprecedented series of
four television debates between Nixon and Kennedy. A provision of
 the Federal Communications Act had been suspended by Congress
earlier in the year to permit the networks to broadcast the debates
without having to provide equal time for candidates of minor
parties. The debates were sometimes compared to the historic
debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas when
they were running for an Illinois Senate seat in 1858. However, the
1960 debates were more in the nature of joint press conferences,
with reporters asking questions.

From left, John F. Kennedy, moderator Frank McGee, and Nixon

at the debate on October 8, 1960.

About 85–120 million Americans watched one or more of the

debates, which provided voters with an opportunity to compare the
two candidates. Although Nixon showed a mastery of the issues, it
was generally agreed that Kennedy, with his relaxed and self-
confident manner, as well as his good looks (in contrast to Nixon’s
“five o’clock shadow”), benefited more from the exchanges.

Nixon’s supporters blamed his defeat on voting irregularities in

both Texas and Illinois. Some prominent Republicans—including
Eisenhower—even urged Nixon to contest the results. He chose not
to, however, declaring:
 I could think of no worse example for nations abroad, who for
the first time were trying to put free electoral procedures into
effect, than that of the United States wrangling over the
results of our presidential election, and even suggesting that
the presidency itself could be stolen by thievery at the ballot
box.

In front of a board showing election returns, Nixon conceded the

1960 election at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Nixon’s supporters and critics alike, both then and later, praised him
for the dignity and unselfishness with which he handled defeat and
the suspicion that vote fraud had cost him the presidency.
Other reasons given for the defeat were his poor appearance in a
series of television debates with Kennedy; his unwillingness, because
of the president’s ill health, to let Eisenhower conduct a full-fledged
campaign for him; and his refusal to permit any discussion of religion
in the campaign. Also, the Republicans lacked the support of
organized labor, and their social-welfare program was no match for
that of the Democrats. Whatever the reasons, Nixon had lost an
election for the first time, and he seemed to be out of the political
picture.
 Two years later Nixon was the Republican candidate for governor
in his native California. The incumbent, Edmund G. (Pat) Brown,
defeated him. In his “last press conference,” Nixon attacked the
news media and announced his retirement from politics.
Nixon left California for New York, where he entered a substantial
law practice. His image as a “loser” in politics seemed complete. A
television network even ran a documentary entitled The Political
Obituary of Richard M. Nixon.
 CHAPTER 3

Presidency

n 1964 Nixon made no move toward the presidency. Instead he

I traveled some 50,000 miles (80,000 km) and visited 36 states on
behalf of Barry M. Goldwater, the conservative Republican
candidate. Goldwater’s overwhelming defeat was portrayed as a
disaster for the Republican Party, which was already torn by
disagreement between its conservative and its liberal members. The
setback, however, was only temporary.
Nixon, stepping in as a unifying force, began to campaign for
Republican candidates around the country. In 1966 his efforts helped
the Republicans gain 47 House seats and 3 additional seats in the
Senate. By the time the 1968 presidential campaign got under way,
Republicans all over the country owed Nixon support.

VICTORY IN 1968
In the 1968 primary elections, Nixon began to cast off the “loser”
image. He won the Republican nomination for president by putting
together a coalition that included Southern conservatives led by
Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. In exchange for
Southern support, Nixon promised to appoint “strict constructionists”
to the federal judiciary, to name a Southerner to the Supreme Court,
and to oppose court-ordered busing. For his running mate he chose
Spiro T. Agnew, the governor of Maryland, a man little known
outside his own state. Agnew was a compromise choice who was
acceptable to Republicans from both the North and the South.

Nixon during a campaign stop in 1968, saluting the crowd with his
iconic “V is for Victory” gesture.

Throughout the election campaign, Nixon deplored the growing

rate of crime in the streets, called attention to the high cost and the
limitations of the Democrats’ welfare programs, and denounced their
inaction against inflation. In promising an honorable peace in
Vietnam, Nixon claimed he had a “secret plan” to end the war. His
Democratic opponent, Hubert H. Humphrey, was Lyndon B.
Johnson’s vice president and therefore associated with the
president’s unpopular Vietnam policies. Johnson halted the bombing
of North Vietnam on October 31, less than one week before the
election, in preparation for direct negotiations to end the war. Had
he taken this step earlier, Humphrey might have won the election, as
polls showed him gaining rapidly on Nixon in the final days of the
campaign.
Nixon won the election by a narrow margin, 31.7 million popular
votes to Humphrey’s nearly 30.9 million; the electoral vote was 301
to 191. About a month before Nixon’s inauguration on January 20,
1969, his younger daughter, Julie, was married to David Eisenhower,
the grandson of former President Eisenhower.

FOREIGN POLICY
In his inaugural address, Nixon emphasized his determination to
seek peace abroad, especially in Vietnam, and to bring about a
reconciliation of the differences that divided the United States. He
turned his attention primarily to foreign affairs. In February 1969 he
visited Belgium, England, West Germany, Italy, and France in an
effort to strengthen the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
To assure noncommunist Asian nations of continued U.S. support,
Nixon embarked in late July on a tour of the Philippines, Indonesia,
Thailand, India, Pakistan, and South Vietnam. Nixon then visited
Romania. He was the first American president to enter a Soviet-bloc
nation since World War II.

VIETNAM
Aiming to achieve “peace with honor” in the Vietnam War, Nixon
gradually reduced the number of U.S. military personnel in Vietnam.
By autumn 1972 U.S. troop strength in Vietnam—which in April 1969
had reached a peak of 543,000 men—was 32,200 men. Under his
policy of “Vietnamization,” combat roles were transferred to South
Vietnamese troops, who nevertheless remained heavily dependent
on American supplies and air support. At the same time, however,
Nixon resumed the bombing of North Vietnam (which had been
suspended by President Johnson in October 1968) and expanded the
air and ground war to neighboring Cambodia and Laos.
 In the spring of 1970 U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attacked
North Vietnamese sanctuaries in Cambodia, which prompted
widespread protests in the United States. One of these
demonstrations—at Kent State University on May 4, 1970—ended
tragically when soldiers of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd
of about 2,000 protesters, killing four and wounding nine. Early in
1972 the North Vietnamese mounted an offensive against the South,
which had uneven success in defending itself. In a move to cut off
military supplies to Hanoi, Nixon ordered the mining of North
Vietnamese ports and the bombing of overland supply routes from
China.

In January 1973 Le Duc Tho of North Vietnam (left) and Henry

Kissinger of the United States signed a peace agreement in Paris that
 ended U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

After intensive negotiations between National Security Adviser

Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese Foreign Minister Le Duc Tho,
the two sides reached an agreement in October 1972, and Kissinger
announced, “Peace is at hand.” But the South Vietnamese raised
objections, and the agreement quickly broke down. An intensive 11-
day bombing campaign of Hanoi and other North Vietnamese cities
in late December (the “Christmas bombings”) was followed by more
negotiations, and a new agreement was finally reached in January
1973 and signed in Paris. It included an immediate cease-fire, the
withdrawal of all American military personnel, the release of all
prisoners of war, and an international force to keep the peace. For
their work on the accord, Kissinger and Tho were awarded the 1973
Nobel Prize for Peace (though Tho declined the honor). In March
Nixon welcomed home the last American ground troops and
prisoners of war from Vietnam. American military involvement
continued with bombing raids over Cambodia until mid-August.

CHINA AND THE SOVIET UNION

Nixon’s most significant achievement in foreign affairs may have
been the establishment of direct relations with the People’s Republic
of China after a 21-year estrangement. After a long civil war, the
People’s Republic of China was proclaimed in 1949 under a
communist government. The Nationalists fled to the island of
Taiwan, off the southeastern Chinese coast, and established the
Republic of China. Ever since, the United States had recognized the
Republic of China as the legitimate government of all China.
Following a series of low-level diplomatic contacts in 1970 and
the lifting of U.S. trade and travel restrictions the following year,
officials from the People’s Republic of China indicated that they
would welcome high-level discussions. Nixon sent his national
security adviser, Henry Kissinger, to China for secret talks. The thaw
in relations became apparent with the “ping-pong diplomacy”
conducted by American and Chinese table-tennis teams in visits in
1971–72.

Richard and Pat Nixon tour the Great Wall during their visit to China
in February 1972.

Nixon’s visit to China in February–March 1972, the first by an

American president while in office, concluded with the Shanghai
Communiqué. In this brief, the United States formally recognized the
“one-China” principle—that there is only one China, and that Taiwan
is a part of China. In February 1973 it was revealed that the United
States and the People’s Republic of China would set up government
liaison offices in Washington, D.C., and in Beijing. The United States
did not officially switch its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to the
People’s Republic of China until early 1979.
The rapprochement with China was undertaken in part to take
advantage of the growing rift between the Chinese and the Soviets
in the late 1960s. Thawing relations with China gave Nixon more
leverage in his dealings with the Soviet Union. By 1971 the Soviets
were more amenable to improved relations with the United States,
and in May 1972 Nixon paid a state visit to Moscow to sign 10 formal
agreements. The most important were the nuclear arms limitation
treaties known as SALT I (based on the Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks conducted between the United States and the Soviet Union
beginning in 1969). In June 1973 Nixon hosted a visit from Leonid I.
Brezhnev, general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. The two
leaders signed a friendship agreement. They also expanded
scientific, technical, educational, and cultural exchanges and agreed
to hold additional negotiations to limit nuclear arsenals.

THE MIDDLE EAST AND LATIN AMERICA

Nixon was less successful in the Middle East. His administration’s
comprehensive plan for peace, the Rogers Plan (named for Nixon’s
first secretary of state, William Rogers), was rejected by both Israel
and the Soviet Union. War erupted in the Middle East in October
1973 when Syria and Egypt attacked Israel simultaneously. The war
was known as the “Yom Kippur War” or the “Ramadan War” because
it took place during those religious observances. Kissinger made
back-and-forth visits between the Arab states and Israel (dubbed
“shuttle diplomacy”) to end the war. However, his efforts did little to
improve U.S. relations with the Arabs.
 Israeli soldiers advance into Syria during the Yom Kippur War (or
Ramadan War) of 1973.

Fearing communist revolution in Latin America, the Nixon

Administration helped to undermine the coalition government of
Chile’s Marxist President Salvador Allende, elected in 1970. After
Allende nationalized American-owned mining companies, the
administration restricted Chile’s access to international economic
assistance and discouraged private investment. The United States
also increased aid to the Chilean military, made secret contacts with
anti-Allende police and military officials, and funneled millions of
dollars in covert payments to Chilean opposition groups in 1970–73.
In September 1973 Allende was overthrown in a military coup led by
army commander in chief General Augusto Pinochet.

Chilean soldiers burn Marxist literature during the coup that

overthrew President Salvador Allende in September 1973.

DOMESTIC POLICY
Despite expectations from some observers that Nixon would be a
“do-nothing” president, his administration undertook a number of
important reforms in welfare policy, civil rights, law enforcement, the
environment, and other areas.

THE ECONOMY
Prior to 1973 the most important of Nixon’s domestic problems was
the economy. In order to reduce inflation, he initially tried to restrict
federal spending. But beginning in 1971 his budget proposals
contained deficits of several billion dollars, the largest in American
history up to that time. In August 1971 Nixon announced his New
Economic Policy in response to continuing inflation, increasing
unemployment, and a deteriorating trade deficit. It included an 8
percent devaluation of the dollar, new surcharges on imports, and
unprecedented peacetime controls on wages and prices. These
policies produced temporary improvements in the economy by the
end of 1972. However, once price and wage controls were lifted,
inflation returned with a vengeance, reaching 8.8 percent in 1973
and 12.2 percent in 1974. In February 1973 Nixon announced his
second devaluation of the dollar. In June he ordered a 60-day freeze
on all retail and wholesale prices except for raw agricultural
commodities. Price controls in some form were in effect until
Congress let them expire on April 30, 1974.
 Marchers protest rising food prices in New York City in 1973.

Another economic problem was the energy crisis of 1973. U.S.

demand for imported oil was rising rapidly, and the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) took advantage of the
changing market, as well as the disruption of the latest Arab-Israeli
war, to raise prices sharply, from about $3 to more than $12 per
barrel.
The Nixon Administration instituted several measures to try to
reduce Americans’ oil consumption. The Emergency Highway Energy
Conservation Act set speed limits on highways to 55 miles per hour
(88 kph), a more fuel-efficient rate than higher speeds (this act was
not repealed until 1995). Gas shortages meant long lines at stations.
Some states instituted a policy where people could only fuel up their
cars on odd days if their license plate ended in an odd number, and
vice versa for even days and numbers.

WELFARE REFORM, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND OTHER PROGRAMS

Nixon proposed the Family Assistance Program (FAP) to provide
working and nonworking poor families with a guaranteed annual
income—though he preferred to call it a “negative income tax.”
Although the measure was defeated in the Senate, its failure helped
to generate support for other legislation that incorporated similar
ideas. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) provided a guaranteed
income to the elderly, the blind, and the disabled. Congress also
passed automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for Social
Security recipients and expanded and improved existing programs,
such as food stamps and health insurance for low-income families.
In the area of civil rights, Nixon’s administration instituted so-
called “set aside” policies to reserve a certain percentage of jobs for
minorities on federally funded construction projects. This was the
first “affirmative action” program. Although Nixon opposed school
busing and delayed taking action on desegregation until federal
court orders forced his hand, he believed strongly in equality
between the races. His administration drastically reduced the
percentage of African American students attending all-black schools.
In addition, funding for many federal civil rights agencies, in
particular the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC),
was substantially increased while Nixon was in office.
In response to pressure from consumer and environmental
groups, Nixon proposed legislation that created the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA). His revenue-sharing program, called “New
Federalism,” provided state and local governments with billions of
federal tax dollars to take over federal programs in urban
development, education, manpower training, and law enforcement.
 Earth Day and the EPA
In the late 1960s Americans became increasingly concerned about
the environment. Sharing these concerns was U.S. Senator Gaylord
Nelson of Wisconsin. A well-known advocate for the environment,
Nelson wanted to bring Americans together on this issue by
creating a national celebration of the Earth. He enlisted Denis
Hayes, then a graduate student at Harvard University in
Massachusetts, to help organize the event. The first Earth Day took
place on April 22, 1970. More than 20 million people across the
United States participated, many of them through events at
schools, colleges, and universities.
The success of the first Earth Day helped gain support for a
number of environmental laws in the United States. These included
the Clean Air Act (1970), the Federal Environmental Pesticide
Control Act (1972), the Clean Water Act (1972), and the
Endangered Species Act (1973).
Later in 1970 President Nixon created the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to set and enforce national pollution-
control standards. One of the EPA’s early successes was an
agreement with automobile manufacturers to install catalytic
converters in cars, thereby reducing emissions of unburned
hydrocarbons by 85 percent. The EPA’s enforcement was in large
part responsible for a decline of one-third to one-half in most air-
pollution emissions in the United States from 1970 to 1990. Among
other issues, the EPA works to control ocean dumping, unsafe
drinking water, insecticides, and asbestos hazards in schools. The
EPA also develops strategies to manage emissions of carbon dioxide
and other greenhouse gases.
 A senator and two Nixon Administration officials examine dead
eagles during a hearing on environmental issues in 1971.

During his presidency, Nixon appointed four justices to the

Supreme Court. Chief Justice Earl Warren had announced his
retirement before Nixon’s inauguration, but the Senate blocked
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s nomination of associate justice Abe
Fortas, giving Nixon the opportunity to make a selection. The Senate
approved his nominee, Warren E. Burger. Nixon’s appointments for
associate justice were Harry A. Blackmun (1970), William H.
Rehnquist (1971), and Lewis F. Powell (1971).
 CHAPTER 4

Watergate and Resignation

enominated with Agnew in 1972, Nixon conducted his campaign

R for a second term by surrogate. While he seldom left his White
House office, the vice president and other associates
campaigned for him. He defeated his Democratic challenger,
liberal Senator George S. McGovern, in one of the largest landslide
victories in the history of American presidential elections: 46.7
million to 28.9 million in the popular vote and 520 to 17 in the
electoral vote. Supporters interpreted his landslide victory as a
mandate for his programs. Nevertheless, Nixon would soon be
forced to resign in disgrace in the worst political scandal in U.S.
history.
In fact, scandal plagued both the president and vice president in
1973. That summer Agnew was investigated in connection with
accusations of extortion, bribery, and income-tax violations relating
chiefly to his tenure as governor of Maryland. He resigned from
office on October 10, 1973, and pled no contest in federal court on a
felony charge of income tax evasion; he was sentenced to three
years of probation and fined $10,000. Nixon chose Representative
Gerald R. Ford of Michigan as Agnew’s successor, and Congress
confirmed him.

Vice President Spiro T. Agnew (center) leaves court after pleading no

contest to income tax evasion.

Reports circulated that year about Nixon’s low tax payments in

proportion to his income. In 1974 the Joint Committee on Internal
Revenue Taxation and the Internal Revenue Service found that Nixon
owed more than $400,000 in back taxes. However, an even bigger
scandal was the ultimate downfall of his presidency.

THE WATERGATE BREAK-IN

The Watergate scandal stemmed from illegal activities by Nixon and
his aides related to the burglary and wiretapping of the national
headquarters of the Democratic Party at the Watergate office
complex in Washington, D.C. Eventually it came to encompass
allegations of other loosely related crimes committed both before
and after the break-in.
The five men involved in the burglary, who were hired by the
Republican Party’s Committee to Reelect the President, were
arrested and charged on June 17, 1972. In the days following the
arrests, Nixon secretly directed the White House counsel, John Dean,
to oversee a cover-up to conceal the administration’s involvement.
Nixon also obstructed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its
inquiry and authorized secret cash payments to the Watergate
burglars in an effort to prevent them from implicating the
administration.
Several major newspapers investigated the possible involvement
of the White House in the burglary. Leading the pack was The
Washington Post and its two hungry newshounds, Carl Bernstein and
Bob Woodward. Their stories were based largely on information from
an unnamed source called “Deep Throat.” The mysterious identity of
Deep Throat became a news story in its own right and led to
decades of speculation. W. Mark Felt, a top-ranking FBI official at the
time of the investigation, revealed himself as the informant in 2005.
 Bob Woodward (left) and Carl Bernstein in the newsroom of The
Washington Post in 1973.

The burglary did not have much impact on the 1972 election. The
White House successfully framed Woodward and Bernstein’s
reporting as the obsession of a single “liberal” newspaper pursuing a
vendetta against the president. Limited coverage in other
newspapers and on television allowed Nixon to win handily.

CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS
In February 1973 a special Senate committee—the Select Committee
on Presidential Campaign Activities, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin—
was established to look into the Watergate affair. In televised
committee hearings, John Dean accused the president of
involvement in the cover-up. Others testified to illegal activities by
the administration and the campaign staff. Federal agencies
reportedly harassed Nixon’s perceived enemies (many of whose
names appeared on an “enemies list” of prominent politicians,
journalists, entertainers, academics, and others). A special White
House investigative unit was known as the “plumbers” because they
investigated news leaks.
As Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee, the vice chairman of the
committee, eloquently put it, the key question in the scandal was
“What did the president know and when did he know it?” Nothing,
Nixon continuously maintained. However, in July the committee
learned that in 1969 Nixon had installed a recording system in the
White House and that all the president’s conversations in the Oval
Office had been recorded. Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor
appointed to investigate the Watergate affair, subpoenaed the tapes,
but Nixon refused to comply, offering to provide summary transcripts
instead. Cox rejected the offer.

John Dean testifies before the Senate about Watergate on June 27,
1973.
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
 ‘I’m afraid you won’t do—in this country, Mr. Morgan. It is too big
for a man who has been raised on books.’
‘Still, I like it,’ he said slowly. ‘Perhaps I won’t do, as you say. And
I have been raised on books. I am what Bunty Smith would probably
call an educated damn fool. Oh, I heard that expression a long time
ago, but I didn’t know until a few days ago just what it meant.’
Nan laughed softly. ‘Perhaps you might be able to forget some of
the things you learned out of books.’
‘I can try. A few more blows on the head, and I probably won’t
have to work hard to forget.’
‘Do you intend to stay in this country?’
‘I didn’t—at first,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘But now I rather think I
may.’
‘But what will you do for a living?’
‘What is there to be done?’
‘You might work as a cowboy,’ said Nan, smiling.
‘Yes, I might. Did you know you have a dimple in each cheek
when you smile?’
‘I think we better change the bandage on your head,’ said Nan
severely. ‘You lie down while I get the hot water and some clean
cloth. I think you’re feverish.’
The sheriff rode back to Mesa City, trying to puzzle out who this
young Morgan might be and just what he was doing in that country.
He was satisfied that some of the 6X6 outfit had been at the Lane
ranch, watching for Long Lane, and had probably hit Morgan over
the head with a gun, possibly mistaking him for some one who was
liable to interfere with them.
He found Bunty Smith, Spike Cahill, and Bert Roddy in the Oasis
saloon.
‘I got my horse,’ said Bunty. ‘Spike and Bert brought him in this
mornin’, Lem.’
‘Where did you boys find him?’ asked Lem.
 ‘Out at the ranch. Probably dumped that young feller off and
came home. Yuh see, that horse was raised on the 6X6.’
Lem nodded with understanding.
‘But where’s the young feller?’ wondered Bunty.
At this moment Dave Morgan and Cal Dickenson came in, but
Lem Sheeley paid no attention to them. As soon as the greeting was
over, Lem came right to the point.
‘As far as that young feller is concerned,’ he said slowly, ‘he’s out
at the Lane place, nursin’ a busted head. I don’t reckon I’ve got to
tell you and Bert that, Spike.’
Spike looked at him blankly and then at Bert.
‘Yuh see, I happen to know that old man Lane found you two
jaspers fightin’ at his place last night. I dunno why yuh fought each
other, and it’s none of my business; but a little later this—or it might
have been before yore fight, as far as I know—this young feller, who
says his name’s Morgan, showed up there and got belted over the
head.’
‘Honest to God, we don’t know nothin’ about him,’ declared Spike
solemnly.
‘Of course not,’ smiled Lem. ‘I didn’t reckon yuh would. But that’s
what happened.’
Spike rubbed his chin and looked at Bert.
‘What do yuh know about that, Bert?’
‘I think he’s crazy,’ replied Bert.
‘I know damn well he is!’ blurted Bunty. ‘Why, some of the things
he told me on the way from Cañonville.’
‘I’m talkin’ about Lem Sheeley,’ interrupted Bert.
‘Oh! Well, I’d like to know how that kid got over to Lane’s place. I
told him to stay on the road, the damn fool.’
‘But you didn’t say which road,’ laughed Spike.
‘I suppose not. Gee, I shore wanted to get my hands on him,
makin’ me spend the night out there, without even a blanket. I’ll buy
a drink.’
‘Mebby this young Morgan is one of yore long-lost relatives,
Dave,’ suggested Spike.
Dave Morgan laughed, as he poured out a drink.
‘Might be, Spike. Still, I suppose there’s a lot of Morgans
scattered over the face of the earth. Well, here’s happy days, boys.’
‘Where’s Pete?’ he asked Spike, after they had finished their
drink.
‘I dunno. He must have pulled out early this mornin’. Didn’t say
anythin’ about goin’. Fact of the matter is, he didn’t wait for
breakfast. When Briggs got breakfast ready, we found that the old
man was gone. His horse and saddle were missin’; so we decided he
left early. We thought we’d find him here in town. Did you just come
from the Lane place, Lem?’
‘Yeah,’ nodded the sheriff.
‘Didn’t see anythin’ of Pete Morgan?’
‘Nope. Did he intend goin’ over there?’
‘You heard about Pete and old man Lane havin’ a fight yesterday,
didn’t yuh, Lem?’
Lem hadn’t. He listened to the details according to Dave Morgan,
who had seen it all.
‘But that wouldn’t send Peter Morgan over to Lane’s place early
this mornin’, would it?’ queried Lem. ‘Seems to me that he’d keep
away. I understand that Lane has homesteaded that ranch.’
‘Well, he drew a deadline on the 6X6,’ laughed Dave. ‘If Joe Cave
hadn’t acted real quick, Lane would have shot Pete.’
‘I suppose,’ said Spike thoughtfully, ‘it wouldn’t do me and Bert a
damn bit of good to deny that we hit this young Morgan, would it,
Lem?’
‘I dunno,’ smiled the sheriff. ‘It might, if you’d tell me why you
and Bert were fightin’ each other out there.’
 ‘That was a mistake,’ said Bert quickly. ‘It was dark, and we didn’t
recognize each other, Lem.’
But further than that neither of them was willing to commit
himself.
‘Found any trace of Long Lane?’ asked Dave Morgan.
‘Not any,’ said the sheriff.
‘Lookin’ for any?’ asked Spike sarcastically.
‘That’s my business, Spike. And I don’t need any bushwhackin’
help from the 6X6. You fellers better keep away from Lane’s place.
Accordin’ to law he owns that ranch, and he’s given yuh plenty of
warnin’.’
Spike subsided. He knew Lem Sheeley to be a two-fisted fighter
and a fast man with a gun; so there would be little satisfaction
gained in starting trouble with him.
‘You evidently don’t consider Long Lane a murderer, do yuh,
Lem?’ asked Dave Morgan.
‘Why should I? Ben Leach followed him, didn’t he? He didn’t have
any idea of kissin’ Lane when they met, did he? No, I don’t consider
it murder, Dave.’
‘But Lane took his gun and horse. Yuh might at least arrest him
for stealin’ the horse,’ said Spike.
‘Do you know he took the horse?’
‘Well, the horse is gone, ain’t it?’
‘Does that prove Lane took it?’
‘Oh, hell!’ snorted Spike. ‘You talk in circles and ask questions all
the time. C’mon, Bert.’
Bert was willing to leave, and a few minutes later Dave Morgan
and Cal Dickenson left the saloon.
In the meantime Nan Lane had put a fresh bandage on Rex
Morgan’s head, and he sprawled back in a rocker, watching her
working around the room.
‘Where is your father?’ he asked suddenly.
 Nan shook her head. ‘Out in the hills somewhere.’
‘With your brother?’
‘I can’t answer that question.’
‘Have you a sweetheart?’
Nan turned quickly. He was not joking. His eyes were deadly
serious.
‘Of all things!’ she exclaimed. ‘You’re feverish again.’
‘Nothing of the kind. Please answer the question.’
‘Nothing of the kind,’ she mimicked him. ‘Why did you ask such a
foolish question?’
‘Most girls do have sweethearts, do they not?’
‘I really don’t know—possibly.’
She laughed and listened intently. From down at the stable came
the cackle of a hen, announcing to the world that she had produced
an egg. Following this came the hoarse crow of a rooster. Nan
laughed and turned to Rex.

‘Cut, cut, cut goes the little brown hen

She cut, cut, cuts a warning,
Then the rooster crows and everybody knows
We’ll have eggs for breakfast in the morning.’

‘Is that what it means?’ laughed Rex.

‘Didn’t you ever hear that before? That was the first poem I ever
learned. We have only a dozen hens, and only six are laying; so I
better get that egg before a coyote or a bob-cat finds it.’
She went out through the kitchen door, and Rex heard her going
toward the stable. She had not invited him to go with her, but he
decided to go anyway. His head was a bit light, he found, and his
knees were weak, but otherwise he felt all right.
Nan went down to the stable, searching for the nest, but was
unable to find it. The chickens were in the willows beyond the corral;
so she crawled through the corral fence. The corrals of the Lane
ranch surrounded one side and the rear of the stable, being almost
an L in shape, with a cross-fence separating it into two units.
Nan entered the smaller corral and walked back to the cross-
fence near the corner of the stable, intending to go through the
gate, but as she glanced through the fence she stopped short.
On the ground, at the corner of the stable, she could see part of
a shoulder and the left arm of a man. The fingers were splayed out
in the dirt; the sleeve drawn back sharply showed a hairy wrist.
Nan flung the gate open and stepped to the corner of the stable,
her eyes filled with horror. The man was lying close against the rear
of the stable, as though he had been leaning against the wall, and
had hardly moved after falling. His right arm was twisted back,
almost under his right leg, and Nan could see the butt of a six-
shooter.
Forgetting her fear for a moment, she stepped forward, took hold
of his shoulder and gave a slight pull. The body turned over easily
and she looked down into the contorted features of Peter Morgan.
With a stifled scream she stepped back, staring down at the
corpse, looking dazedly at the earthly remains of the man who had
been her father’s enemy.
‘What do you suppose happened to him?’ asked a voice, and she
jerked around quickly to face Rex Morgan, who had stepped through
the gate and was looking at the body.
‘My God!’ she whispered. ‘That is Peter Morgan!’
‘Was Peter Morgan,’ corrected Rex unemotionally. ‘Dead, isn’t he?
I never saw a dead man before. He must have been struck over the
head, too. Queer, isn’t it?’
‘Queer?’ Nan struggled to keep her voice calm. If she ever
needed self-possession she needed it now.
‘Queer about him getting hit on the head, I mean. It seems to be
sort of a habit around here.’
Nan leaned against the wall of the stable, trying to think just
what to do.
 ‘Who do you suppose killed him?’ queried Rex. It was rather
strange that he wasn’t at all excited.
‘Oh, don’t you see what it will mean?’ whispered Nan. ‘This is
Peter Morgan. He hated my father, and my father has threatened to
kill any of his outfit that came here.’
‘Your father threatened him? Do you suppose he killed him?’
‘I—I don’t know. No! Why, if he killed him, he wouldn’t leave the
body there—here. But they won’t believe it. My father left here early
this morning. Why—why he and Morgan had a fight in Mesa City
yesterday. This is terrible!’
‘I begin to understand,’ said Rex slowly. ‘If they find the body
here, they will say your father killed him.’
‘Yes, yes! Oh, what can I do?’
‘Well, the first thing to do is to get rid of the body, I suppose. Of
course the man is dead, and it won’t make a particle of difference to
him. I think we——’
Nan had stepped to the gate and was looking down toward the
willow-lined creek, where a saddled horse stood, barely visible to
them. It was a tall roan; the riding horse of Peter Morgan.
‘That was his horse,’ she told Rex. ‘He must have tied it down
there, and then——’
‘Came looking for trouble.’
‘Oh, I suppose,’ wearily. ‘But what can we do, Rex?’
It was the first time she had called him Rex.
‘I was just wondering what would be the proper thing to do,’ he
replied. ‘You see, I haven’t many ideas on the subject. My idea of it
would be to get the body away from here and let them find it
elsewhere. That would, at least, turn the finger of direct suspicion
from your father; and that seems to be the primary idea, doesn’t it?’
Nan nodded quickly. ‘But how can we, Rex? Suppose some one
saw us?’
‘I don’t know anything about what they would do, Nan. I just had
an idea. I—you wait here a minute.’
 He crossed the corral, climbed through the fence and came back
shortly, leading the saddled horse.
‘We would have to dispose of the horse, too,’ he said, eyeing the
body. ‘Suppose you get some rope.’
‘Do you mean to—to tie the body on the horse?’
‘Something like that, I think it can be done.’ Nan secured a length
of spot-cord lariat and came back to him.
‘I was just thinking again,’ smiled Rex. ‘The body is very stiff, and
I wonder if—no, I guess we better just drape him across the saddle.
Do you feel capable of helping me lift him up, Nan?’
She shut her eyes tightly, but nodded in the affirmative. It was a
tough job. Rex was none too strong, and Nan’s natural aversion to
touching the body did not add any material strength to her arms.
But they finally managed to place the body across the saddle,
face down, and together they roped it tightly. Rex knew nothing
about knots; so he let Nan tie off the ropes. Luckily it was a gentle
horse.
‘Now, that is done,’ said Rex thankfully.
‘But what next?’ asked Nan anxiously, scanning the hills. She was
mortally afraid some one would come before the coast was clear.
‘Would this horse go home?’ asked Rex.
‘It might. Oh, that would——’
‘Let’s try it, Nan.’
Slowly he led the horse through the rear gate. They had tied the
reins to the saddle-horn. Pointing the animal away from the ranch,
he gave it a slap with his open palm, and the animal went trotting
away, heading back toward the 6X6.
For a long time they stood there together, watching the hills, and
once they saw the animal with its grisly burden, a mile away, still
going. Nan’s face was very white as she turned to Rex and held out
her hand.
‘Thank you, Rex,’ she said simply.
 ‘You are welcome, Nan. It was nothing.’
‘But if it was known, we would both go to jail for a long time.’
Rex shuddered slightly. ‘Is that a fact, Nan?’
‘Yes—we must never tell. The law would blame us equally with
the one who killed him.’
‘Well, that is all right. I—I mean—it does matter. You see, I don’t
want anything to happen to you. I never did touch a dead man
before, and my head hurts now, but it is all right. You see, I—I——’
His hands slipped off the fence and he fell in a heap at her feet.
Quickly she knelt in the dust of the corral and took his head in her
lap. His face was bloodless. She knew she could not carry him to the
house. For a moment she hesitated on just what to do, but finally
lowered his head to the ground and got quickly to her feet,
intending to go to the house after some water, but as she turned
toward the gate she saw the sheriff riding up to the corral. It was
evident he had seen her, and was coming there instead of to the
house.
He rode up along the fence, swinging his hat in his hand, a smile
on his face.
‘Howdy, Miss Lane,’ he said pleasantly, and then saw Rex on the
ground. He dismounted quickly and came over to the fence.
‘He—he fainted,’ faltered Nan, fearful that the sheriff had seen
the horse and its burden leave the corral.
‘Shore looks white, ma’am.’
‘I was just going after some water.’
‘I’ll get yuh some,’ he said quickly. He walked to the open gate,
but stopped and picked up Peter Morgan’s revolver.
Nan’s heart sank when she saw it. Would he recognize the gun,
she wondered? But he merely gave it a sharp glance and went on to
the house, carrying it in his hand.
But she noticed when he came back that the gun was not in
evidence, nor did he mention finding it. He poured some of the
water over Rex’s head, and the shock of the cold water brought him
back to consciousness. He sat up, blinking foolishly.
‘This is the sheriff,’ said Nan. ‘You’ve met him before.’
‘Kinda went down and out, didn’t yuh?’ smiled the sheriff.
Rex nodded quickly. ‘Foolish of me to faint. I guess my head isn’t
very good yet.’
He looked searchingly at Nan. ‘Did you find them?’ he asked.
‘Find what?’ asked the sheriff, before Nan could reply.
‘The eggs,’ said Rex. ‘The hen called, you know; and we went
hunting the egg. Queer, isn’t it? And I fainted.’
The sheriff smiled thinly. He had seen the look which passed
between them.
‘Can yuh navigate all right?’ he asked.
‘Oh, I am all right now.’
‘I just dropped in to tell you that the horse you rode last night
was picked up at the 6X6 ranch and brought back to Mesa City. The
horse came from there, yuh see; so that would be where he’d go.’
‘Well, I am glad they got it back, and thank you for telling me.’
‘Oh, you’re welcome.’
He climbed the fence and mounted his horse.
‘I’ll see yuh later,’ he said.
‘Come any time, Lem,’ called Nan.
‘Thank yuh, Nan—I shore will.’
‘Whew!’ exclaimed Rex weakly. ‘That was a close call. You don’t
think he saw what we did, do you?’
‘I’m sure he didn’t. But somehow I don’t feel that he believed
about the eggs.’
‘Well, we are not in jail,’ grinned Rex.
They walked back to the front of the house, and Rex stood there
quite a while, thinking over the events of the night before. He
distinctly remembered that there had been a big gate. Where was
that gate now, he wondered? There was no big gate at the Lane
ranch. In fact, there were no fences around the place, except the
corral, and he was very sure he did not come through the corral.
Finally he went over to the house and sat down on the porch, trying
to reconstruct the locale, as well as he could, of the place where he
had been knocked out.
And while Rex Morgan pondered over these things, Lem Sheeley
rode back to Cañonville, also thinking deeply. From inside his shirt-
bosom he removed a heavy Colt revolver and examined it closely.
It was of forty-five caliber, with white bone handles, and on one
handle had been carved the initials ‘P. M.’
‘“P. M.,”’ he said to himself. ‘That’s Peter Morgan’s gun; I
remember them bone handles. But what was Peter Morgan’s gun
doin’ in the Lane corral? I’ll betcha he was over there tryin’ to raise a
little hell with Lane and lost the gun. Serves him right, and I’ll shore
tell him so when I give him the gun.’
 CHAPTER VII: HASHKNIFE AND SLEEPY DRIFT IN
Along a sandy road, which leads northward from Cañonville,
came two cowboys that afternoon. They were not traveling fast,
because of the fact that both horses were footsore and weary. The
fact of the matter was, they were cowboy ‘tourists,’ heading south
for the winter.
The one on the tall, gray horse whistled unmusically between his
teeth and surveyed the landscape through a pair of level, gray eyes.
He was also tall, thin, with a long, rather serious face, generous
nose and a wide mouth. His well-worn Stetson was tilted forward
over his eyes, shading his face from the western sun. He wore a pale
blue shirt, a nondescript vest, which was little more than a drape on
each side of his chest, and a pair of bat-wing chaps. Around his
waist was a weathered, hand-made cartridge belt, supporting an old
holster, from which protruded the black handle of a big Colt gun. His
boots were extra high of heel, and his spurs had been dulled until
there was little left except a circle of steel.
The other man was shorter, broader of shoulder, with a deep-
lined, grin-wrinkled face, out of which looked a pair of innocent blue
eyes. Their raiment was about the same, their riding rigs much alike.
The shorter man rode a chunky sorrel, which was forced to
singlefoot in order to keep up with the swinging walk of the tall gray.
‘Ain’t seen a cow for forty miles, Hashknife,’ said ‘Sleepy’ Stevens,
the short one of the duo, breaking a long silence.
‘Hashknife’ Hartley turned in his saddle and smiled at Sleepy.
‘Mebby it’s a lucky thing for the cows, cowboy. Any cow that
could live in the country we’ve gone through would have to imagine
a lot. But we didn’t come lookin’ for cows—we came for the climate.’
‘Shore,’ admitted Sleepy.
‘And this is climate.’
 ‘In the daytime,’ admitted Sleepy. ‘Last night I dang near froze.
When we hit a town, I’m goin’ to have at a reg’lar bed. Didn’t that
shepherd tell us it was only twenty miles to Cañonville?’
‘Sheep-herder’s miles, Sleepy.’
‘I reckon that’s right.’
They rode in over the crest of a hill and saw the town of
Cañonville ahead of them.
‘That’s her,’ proclaimed Hashknife. ‘The first thing on my
programme is to wrap m’self around about four eggs and a couple o’
slices of a hawg’s hind leg.’
‘Yea, brother. And set on somethin’ besides a saddle or a cactus.
Man, I’m plumb rode out. When we talked about comin’ to Arizona
for the winter, I took a look at a map, and I seen a couple of two-
inch squares, pink and orange, which represented what we has to
cover in order to reach this here destination.[’]
‘It looked easy, Hashknife. There wasn’t a danged thing difficult-
lookin’ about it; no hills, no cactus, no sand; jist pink and orange.
And only two inches of it. I’d like to meet the jigger that drew the
map I looked at.’
Hashknife smiled and shook his head.
‘We shore earned a rest in a sunny land, Sleepy. I’ll bet these
broncs will be glad to lean up ag’in’ a load of oats. They wasn’t
raised to browse off a Spanish dagger.’
Cañonville looked exactly like several of the Arizona towns they
had passed through; a typical Arizona cow-town on a railroad. Many
of the buildings were of adobe, the rest weathered frame, with false
fronts.
They rode straight to the livery-stable, where they put up their
horses, and then went hunting a restaurant. It was there that they
met Noah Evans, the deputy sheriff, humped in a chair as he waited
for his meal to be served.
He gave Hashknife and Sleepy a sharp glance, noted their
general appearance, and nodded a welcome. Noah needed some
one to talk with, and a stranger would be a boon. Hashknife and
Sleepy slid into chairs across the table from Noah and gave their
order to the waiter.
‘Jist got in, didn’t yuh?’ asked Noah.
‘Not fifteen minutes ago,’ said Hashknife. ‘How’s everythin’ down
here?’
‘Kind of a broad question, stranger.’
‘Crime, for instance.’
Hashknife had noticed the badge of office on Noah’s shirt-bosom.
‘Crime? Huh! Ain’t none,’ gloomily. ‘Ain’t been none since me and
Lem Sheeley’s been runnin’ the office.’
‘Lem’s the sheriff, eh?’
‘Y’betcha. And he’s a dinger, too. Was a dinger,’ he corrected
himself sadly.
‘Somebody plant him?’
‘Na-a-aw! Yuh see,’ Noah rested his skinny elbows on the table
and considered the sugar-bowl thoughtfully, ‘I figure a sheriff ort to
be heartwhole and fancy-free. Otherwise he ain’t capable.’
‘Fell in love, eh?’ smiled Hashknife.
‘Accordin’ to all signs of the Zodiac—he has. I’m here in town,
runnin’ the damned office, while he lallygags. By Gad, I hope t’ be
my own boss some day.’
‘And if yuh was, you’d be out to see the same girl, eh?’
Noah looked up quickly, and his ears grew red.
‘How do yuh make that out, stranger?’
‘Observation. If it wasn’t true, you wouldn’t give a damn where
he was.’
‘Uh-huh.’
The waiter deposited Noah’s food in front of him, and the
conversation lagged for a few minutes. Their orders came along, and
the three men busied themselves with the meal.
‘Goin’ to stay around here?’ asked Noah.
 ‘Dunno yet,’ replied Hashknife. ‘We’re down here to spend the
winter, but we’ve got to hit a cow country, where we can get work.’
‘Uh-huh. From up north, eh? I used to punch cows up in the Milk
River country. Used to be around Pendleton, Umatilla, and then I
was over in Idaho.’
‘We’ve been up in that country,’ nodded Hashknife. ‘I was born
over on the Milk River.’
‘Thasso? What’s the name?’
‘Hartley.’
‘Hartley, eh? Any relation to Jim Hartley, of the Bar 77 outfit?’
‘I guess so; he’s my brother.’
‘Well, I’ll be damned! Why, me and old Jim—say! Yore dad was a
preacher up in that country. Rode an old white horse and packed the
gospel. No, I didn’t know him, but I heard a lot about him. They said
he was the only preacher they ever had that didn’t try to convert
somebody. Wasn’t tryin’ to show folks how to die; he showed ’em
how to live straight. And you’re Jim’s brother! You’re Hennery, ain’t
yuh? I’ve heard him tell about you. My name’s Evans—Noah Evans.’
They shook hands solemnly, and Hashknife introduced him to
Sleepy.
‘Well, well!’ marveled Noah explosively. ‘She’s a small world,
gents. I ain’t seen Jim Hartley for three or four years. Spent a winter
up there, and I ain’t thawed out yet. Wish it was jist before dinner,
I’d shore like to buy yuh both a drink.’
‘We’ll be here just before supper,’ grinned Sleepy.
‘You betcha.’
They finished their meal, and Noah invited them to come down to
the office, where he talked with Hashknife about the Milk River
country, naming over people whom Hashknife remembered,
although it had been many years since he had been home.
While they were talking, Lem Sheeley rode in. Noah lost no time
in introducing the two cowboys to the sheriff.
‘Hear anythin’ of young Lane?’ asked Noah.
 Lem shook his head wearily. ‘Nothin’, Noah. Probably out in the
hills. Didn’t see anythin’ of the old man, so I reckon he’s out there,
too.’
‘How about the girl?’
‘She’s home.’
Lem tried to act indifferent.
‘Alone?’ asked Noah.
‘No-o-o.’
‘Well, who in hell is with her?’
Lem slowly rolled a cigarette, as he told about Rex Morgan and
his experiences. Hashknife leaned forward on his chair and absorbed
every word of it, while Sleepy scowled over his cigarette, sighing
wearily.
Lem told them of old man Lane discovering Spike Cahill and Bert
Roddy, fighting in the dark, and Noah seemed greatly amused over
that incident. Knowing that Hashknife did not know of the incidents
which led up to this, Noah explained about the coming of the nester
family, the persecutions of the 6X6, and the killing of Ben Leach.
‘And this young feller says his name is Morgan, eh?’ queried
Noah. ‘I wonder if he’s any relation to Pete or Dave.’
‘I dunno.’ Lem shook his head. ‘Bunty Smith says he’s loco, but I
don’t see anythin’ wrong with him, except that he talks like a
dictionary and ain’t never been out in the sun very much. Didja ever
see this?’
He took the Colt from inside his shirt and placed it on the table in
front of Noah, who examined it quickly.
‘That’s Pete Morgan’s gun, Lem. I’d know it by them handles.
Spike Cahill shaped ’em for him. Said he’d make me a pair like ’em
as soon as he got time. That was a year ago, which leads me to
believe Spike has been pretty dang busy. Where’d yuh get it, Lem?’
‘I picked it up in Lane’s corral this mornin’.’
‘Oh-ho-o-o-o! So old Pete went over to clean-up on old man Lane
and lost his gun. I’d keep it, if I was you, Lem. Serves him right.’
 ‘Pete Morgan and old man Lane had a fight in Mesa City
yesterday, and Pete knocked him down. They tell me that the old
man drawed a deadline against the 6X6. He tried to draw a gun on
Pete, but Joe Cave blocked him. I reckon he’d have killed Pete.’
‘By golly, they’ll monkey with that old buzz-saw until he does kill
some of ’em. You ort to go and have a talk with that 6X6, Lem.’
‘That would do a hell of a lot of good.’
‘Tough outfit?’ asked Hashknife.
‘No tougher than the rest, I don’t suppose. But Peter Morgan has
kinda bossed things around the Mesa City country until his punchers
think they can do just as they please. This nester shore slipped one
over on old Pete when he homesteaded that place.[’]
‘I dunno yet why Pete didn’t have somebody homestead it for
him. I reckon it was because Pete thought he could keep anybody
off, anyway. He’s shore scared a lot of nesters off that side of the
road. But Lane was jist as tough as Pete; so he’s still there.’
‘With his son hidin’ out,’ added Noah sadly.
‘And the rest of the country givin’ us hell because we don’t smoke
him out,’ sighed Lem.
‘What kind of a feller was this Leach?’ asked Hashknife.
‘Tough hombre,’ replied Noah. ‘We figure he got what he went
lookin’ for.’
‘The only bad move Lane made was to take Ben’s gun and horse,’
said the sheriff. ‘I reckon he was just drunk enough to take ’em. Kind
of an Injun idea; kill ’em and take everythin’.’
Sleepy was humped up in a chair, looking sadly at Hashknife.
Sleepy knew what this would mean. Hashknife was leaning forward,
an eager expression in his gray eyes, his long, lean fingers caressing
the knees of his worn chaps. Gone were all the signs of weariness
from their long journey.
Fate had again thrown them into a troubled range; Hashknife
Hartley was in his element. But Hashknife was not a man-hunter. He
had no interest in the outlaw, on whose head was a price.
 ‘This young Lane ain’t got Injun blood, has he?’ asked Hashknife.
‘No-o-o,’ drawled Lem. ‘But he was drunk enough to be a fool
that day. He probably knew we’d be on his trail; so he heeled himself
with Ben’s gun and horse. Me and Noah was at his ranch when he
came home, and he said he had fixed one of the 6X6 gang.’
‘And when the 6X6 gang came after him, he wasn’t in the house,’
added Noah. ‘Must ’a’ went straight through the house, cut out
through the hills, and picked up Ben’s horse, ’cause he left his own
bronc at the corral.’
‘If it was self-defense, why didn’t he give himself up to the law?’
asked Hashknife.
‘Because he’s a nester,’ said Lem quickly. ‘He had an idea that the
law wouldn’t give him an even break.’
‘I can understand that,’ agreed Hashknife. ‘And since the killin’,
the 6X6 has been hangin’ around the nester’s place at night, eh?’
‘Y’betcha. They want young Lane. And Peter Morgan backs their
play, Hartley. Some day him and old man Lane will meet for a show-
down.’
‘And what kind of a girl is this nester’s daughter?’
‘She’s all right,’ said Lem slowly. ‘Square as a dollar.’
‘And no shrinkin’ vi’let,’ added Noah.
‘Is Peter Morgan a married man?’
‘No.’
‘What did Ben Leach and young Lane fight about?’
‘I dunno. I heard that Ben called him a damn nester. Mebby it
was mostly liquor. But Ben had no right to follow him unless he was
prepared to shoot. The 6X6 contend that Lane saw him comin’ and
bushwhacked him. Can’t prove it. Ben got a bullet through his head.
I dunno what Lane’s story would be, but he’s got a good chance to
prove self-defense.’
‘Looks thataway,’ admitted Hashknife. ‘I reckon we better get us a
room at the hotel, Sleepy.’
 ‘I’ll go along,’ declared Noah. ‘I know the jigger who runs the
hotel and I’ll see that he gives yuh a good room. Some of ’em has
got cracked pitchers in, yuh see.’
They secured the room and spent an hour or two looking over
the little town, after which they drifted back to the sheriff’s office.
Lem stretched out on a cot and snored audibly, while Noah talked
Milk River with Hashknife.
 CHAPTER VIII: REX USES HIS BRAINS
After due deliberation Rex Morgan decided that the blow on his
head must have left him slightly hazy on things in general; so he
gave up trying to puzzle out what had become of the gate. He did
not speak to Nan about this. She sat on the porch steps with him,
looking toward the 6X6, and he knew she was worrying over what
had taken place at the corral.
‘You saw the sheriff find that gun, didn’t you?’ she asked.
‘Yes.’
‘That was Peter Morgan’s gun, Rex; and I’m afraid the sheriff
recognized it. If he hadn’t, I think he would have mentioned picking
it up, and would have given it to us. They cost about thirty dollars
apiece.’
‘But he doesn’t know Peter Morgan is dead.’
‘He will. And he’ll wonder how that gun got in our corral. Rex,
we’ve got to forget it. No matter what happens, we must keep this a
secret. They would hang my father, as sure as fate.’
‘Well, I’m not going to tell,’ declared Rex. ‘I’ve been rather weak
in the stomach since then, but I’m all right now. I don’t want to go
to jail, and I’d do anything in the world before I’d tell. But I wish we
had picked up that gun.’
‘If wishes were horses, beggars might ride,’ quoted Nan seriously.
‘And be welcome to them,’ smiled Rex wryly. ‘I’d rather walk.’
It was an hour or so later when Paul Lane rode in and stabled his
horse. Nan was in the kitchen, preparing a meal, and Rex was sitting
on the front porch, reading an old magazine.
Rex had never seen the old man, but he knew it must be Nan’s
father. The old man came up to the porch and looked Rex over
quizzically.
 ‘How’s yore head?’ he asked.
‘It is much better, thank you,’ replied Rex. ‘You are Mr. Lane? My
name is Morgan.’
The old man did not offer to shake hands with him.
‘What Morgan?’ he asked coldly.
‘What Morgan? I don’t know just what you mean, Mr. Lane.’
‘Any relation to the Morgans of Mesa City?’
Rex shook his head quickly. ‘I guess not. At least, I don’t believe I
am.’
Nan heard them talking and came out to the porch.
‘Yore patient recovered kinda quick, Nan,’ said the old man.
‘Yes,’ she said softly. ‘How is Walter?’
‘All right. I asked him about that horse and gun. He never took
’em, Nan. He swears he never seen Ben Leach after he left the
saloon.’
Nan was watching her father closely, and Rex noticed that her
face was rather white, her lips compressed tightly.
‘Dad,’ she said hoarsely, ‘what happened down by the stable this
morning?’
‘Eh? Down at the stable? Why, I dunno—nothin’ that I know
anythin’ about, Nan.’
‘Didn’t you meet Peter Morgan?’
‘Meet Peter Morgan? No! I dunno what you’re talkin’ about.’
He turned to Rex.
‘What about you, young man? Who hit you over the head?’
‘That is something I cannot tell you, Mr. Lane.’
‘Mm-m-m-m. Kinda funny.’
He turned from Rex and looked at Nan closely.
‘What’s the matter with you?’ he asked. ‘What makes yuh look at
me like that, Nan? Don’tcha feel well?’
 ‘You swear you didn’t meet Peter Morgan at the stable this
morning?’
‘I told yuh I didn’t. Was he here?’
‘He was here,’ she said. ‘I found him in the corral, near the corner
of the stable—dead.’
‘What?’ The old man came closer to her, his eyes wide. ‘Nan, you
don’t mean that! Not Peter Morgan!’
‘He had been hit over the head,’ she said slowly. ‘His horse was
back in the willows; so we tied him on the saddle and turned the
horse loose. He had drawn his gun, and we were so anxious to get
him away from here that we forgot the gun, and the sheriff came
along——’
‘My God! he didn’t see you, did he, Nan?’
‘No, he didn’t see us—but he picked up the gun and took it with
him.’
The old man sat down heavily on the bottom steps and tried to
get it all clear in his mind.
‘We had to do something,’ said Nan wearily.
The old man nodded thoughtfully.
‘This young man helped you?’ he asked.
‘Yes, Dad; I couldn’t have done it alone.’
He turned his head and looked at Rex closely.
‘Where’d you come from?’ he asked.
Rex explained how he happened to be in that country, and what
had happened to him since he started.
‘No idea who hit you last night?’ asked the old man.
‘Not the slightest, Mr. Lane. I don’t remember a thing from the
time that man stepped out to speak to me until I woke up in your
home.’
‘You had been hit hard, Morgan. You’ve got a hard head, young
man. That blow would have killed most men. I dunno,’ he said
wearily. ‘I almost wish I hadn’t tried to buck the 6X6. My son is a
fugitive, you know. I’ve tried to induce him to leave the country, but
he won’t go. Swears he never killed Leach. He won’t get a square
deal with a Mesa City jury, nor a jury from any other part of this
range; and if the 6X6 outfit catch him, they’ll lynch him on the spot;
so what can he do?’
‘But who killed Peter Morgan?’ asked Nan.
‘I don’t know,’ replied her father. ‘If he was killed here, he could
only blame himself. I told him what would happen. I drew a deadline
for the 6X6. Morgan knocked me down on the street in Mesa City.’
‘They’ll swear you killed him, Dad. Don’t you see what it means?
No matter where they find the horse with the body, the sheriff found
Morgan’s gun in our corral.’
‘That’s true, Nan. We’ll just have to wait and see how it turns
out.’
He turned to Rex. ‘If I was you, young man, I’d head for Mesa
City as quick as possible. This is a dangerous place to be found. You
haven’t any interests here. I’m just telling you this for your own
benefit.’
‘But we haven’t done anything, Mr. Lane. I don’t know anybody in
Mesa City—and I’m not afraid.’
‘That’s because you’re ignorant of what it might mean. This is my
home. I’m too old to stand trial for murder. My best days are behind
me. I’ve got to fight.’
‘I never have fought,’ said Rex slowly. ‘I don’t know how well I
could fight. But I’m not going to run away and leave you and Nan
here.’
‘They know he’s here,’ said Nan quickly.
Her father looked at her quizzically.
‘Calls yuh by yore first name—and you don’t want him to go, eh?’
Nan got quickly to her feet. ‘I think I better start supper.’
The old man filled his pipe and smoked slowly for a while,
stealing an occasional glance at Rex. Finally he got to his feet,
stretched wearily.
 ‘I dunno,’ he said, as though talking to himself. ‘Soft-handed
tenderfoot and a nester’s daughter. I had hopes she’d pick a man.’
Then he went slowly into the house, leaving Rex to wonder what
he meant. He looked at his hands. They were undeniably soft, but
just now not very clean. Finally he went back through the house and
stood in the doorway between the living-room and kitchen, watching
Nan prepare a meal. His head ached a little and he suddenly
remembered that it had been a long time since he had eaten
anything.
Paul Lane came past him and entered the kitchen where he
glanced at the woodbox, discovered it almost empty, and started for
the back door. But he did not open it. He stopped suddenly and
listened. Nan turned from the stove, holding a skillet in her hand.
It was the sound of horses’ hoofs on the hard-packed ground of
the yard. Unconsciously Rex crossed near the old man.
None of them said a word. Suddenly the old man reached out
and flung the door open, almost swinging it back against Rex, who
stepped back. In the doorway stood Spike Cahill and Dell Bowen,
guns in hand, while behind them were Bert Roddy, Dave Morgan,
and Red Eller.
‘Gotcha, Lane!’ snapped Bowen.
But before any one else made a move, Rex flung himself against
the door, crashing it shut in the faces of the cowboys. Then he
darted out of the room, and a moment later they heard the crash of
glass, as he went out through a window.
One of the cowboys yelled a warning, and they went pounding
around the house, while Nan and her father stood there, looking
foolishly at each other. Then the old man ran through the living-
room and barred the front door, picking up his Winchester on the
way back.
They could hear the cowboys yelling at each other, as they
crashed through the brush, searching for the man they believed to
be Paul Lane. Nan ran to a window and looked out. The chase had
taken the men quite a distance from the ranch-house, but it would
be only a matter of minutes until they would find Rex.
‘I reckon I’ll slide out for a while, Nan,’ said the old man coldly.
‘Looks like my best chance.’
He kissed her quickly, ran out, mounted one of the horses, and
rode swiftly down past the stable. Nan heard several shots fired, and
her heart sank. Had they shot Rex Morgan, she wondered?
She unbarred the door and went out on the porch, but could not
see anybody. Acting on the impulse of the moment, she ran into the
yard, climbed on a tall bay horse and raced away from the ranch,
heading for Cañonville.
It is doubtful if Rex could have explained just why he slammed
the door shut and then dived head-first through that window. It was
the same window that Long Lane had used as an exit, but Rex did
not wait to open it. He struck on his hands and knees in a shower of
broken glass, splintered window frame, fairly bounced to his feet,
and ran as fast as possible for the fringe of brush.
But one of the men had seen him, and that was only a glimpse.
But it had been sufficient to send them all on his trail. He ran
through the heavy cover, tearing his clothes on the mesquite,
scratching his face and hands on the clinging thorns, but going
ahead in spite of it all.
He could hear his pursuers now. They were unable to travel any
faster than he, but they were probably in better physical condition.
He tripped and fell heavily, staying down long enough to let two
cowboys pass within twenty feet of him.
Then he got to his feet and struck off at an angle, only to be cut
off by another cowboy, who yelled breathlessly and then fell flat on
the brush. Rex had seen him fall, and it struck him as very funny,
but he did not have enough breath left to laugh.
He changed his course, which took him to an open space in the
brush, where he stopped for a moment to try and get his bearings.
And almost at the same moment he heard a bullet scream past his
ear, and from on the slope of a hill came the pop of a revolver.
 Another bullet plucked at the sleeve of his shirt, and the third one
struck a rock behind him and went zeeing off through the brush.
‘Stop shootin’, you damn fool!’ yelled a voice. ‘That ain’t old man
Lane; that’s the crazy jigger!’
Then it seemed to Rex that cowboys came smashing through the
brush from every direction. He did not move, as they came up to
him. It seemed that they were all swearing at him. Spike Cahill faced
him, breathing heavily, purple from the hard run.
‘So you’re the jigger who busted through the winder, eh?’ snarled
Spike. ‘What was the big idea?’
Rex was too short of breath to even answer a question. He
grinned at Spike, and Spike knocked him flat on his back with a
right-hand punch.
‘Don’t do that, Spike,’ said Bowen. ‘This damn ginny is crazy.’
‘Crazy, hell!’ gritted Spike. ‘He led us out here to give that dirty
murderer a chance to fade out. Git up, you damn lizard!’
Rex got slowly to his feet, his lips red with blood. There were
tears in his eyes, and they thought he was crying because he was
hurt. Spike grasped him by the left arm, sinking his fingers deep.
‘Do yuh know what yuh done, yuh ignorant pup?’ rasped Spike.
He yanked roughly on Rex’s arm.
Splat!
With no preliminary movement Rex uppercut Spike with his right
fist, and Spike landed on his haunches. The knockout was so
complete that after a moment, Spike sagged sideways and sprawled
flat on his face.
Rex stepped back, rubbing his knuckles on his thigh.
‘Bat him over the head with a gun,’ advised Dave Morgan.
‘No, yuh don’t!’ snapped Dell Bowen. ‘Spike got what was comin’
to him. This poor fool ain’t got brains enough to fool us intentionally.
He likely got scared and took to the window. And we didn’t have
sense enough to leave somebody at the house to see that it wasn’t a
trick.’
 Spike rolled over and sat up. He was still hazy and Red Eller
helped him to his feet.
‘Wh-what hit me?’ he asked weakly.
‘The loon-a-tick,’ grinned Red.
‘This?’ Spike pointed at Rex.
‘That,’ said Dell coldly, ‘Yuh earned it, Spike.’
‘Well, for God’s sake!’
The knockout had taken the fight all out of Spike. He looked at
Rex gloomily and shook his head.
‘Well, we might as well go back and get the horses,’ said Dave
Morgan. ‘It’s all off for to-day.’
Ignoring Rex, they headed back to the ranch-house, with him
following. And it was there that Dave Morgan and Spike Cahill staged
a swearing contest. Both of their horses were missing.
For several moments the air was blue with profanity. Dell Bowen
went through the house, but could find no one.
‘The old man took one and the girl took the other,’ he said.
‘I’ve got a good notion to punch the head off that damn
tenderfoot,’ growled Dave Morgan.
‘Go ahead, Davie,’ urged Spike. ‘Hit him for me.’
‘No,’ said Bowen firmly. ‘He has nothin’ to do with it. Hittin’ him
won’t correct our mistakes.’
‘Would you mind telling me what it is all about?’ asked Rex.
The cowboys stared at him.
‘Old man Lane murdered Peter Morgan,’ said Bowen.
‘When?’
‘How in hell do we know?’
‘Where?’
‘Don’t know that either.’
Rex spat out a little blood and wiped his mouth with the back of
his hand.
 ‘What do you know?’ he asked.
‘A-a-aw, hell!’ snorted Spike. ‘Let’s go.’
They mounted double on two of the horses, and Rex watched
them spur away from the ranch. He washed his face in cold water
and went through the house, looking for Nan. He didn’t understand
why she should leave the ranch, but she was not there.
He looked at himself in a cracked mirror, and the reflection was
somewhat of a shock. He saw a pair of swollen lips, a discolored eye
and numerous scratches across a face which was badly in need of a
shave.
‘I prefer civilization,’ he said, quoting the ticket agent. ‘With a
face like that and a head all bandaged, I doubt if civilization would
accept me. Still, I am alive; and that is something to be thankful for.
I have been in a runaway over a dangerous grade, thrown from a
wrecked stage, beaten over the head, helped dispose of a murdered
man, dived through a window, been shot at, and knocked down.
What next, I wonder? Perhaps I had better search for a razor and at
least put up an appearance of civilization, even if it might be out of
place in this country.’
 CHAPTER IX: ‘KIND OF A MISFIT’
Hashknife and Sleepy were standing in front of the hotel when
Nan Lane rode in to Cañonville. Her horse was lathered to the ears,
and almost fell with her in front of them, but she yanked him up and
headed for the sheriff’s office.
‘Little Miss Somebody’s in a hell of a hurry,’ observed Sleepy.
‘Y’betcha,’ agreed Hashknife. ‘Come to visit the sheriff, too. Let’s
see what’s all the hurry about.’
They strode down to the office, where they found Nan telling
Lem and Noah what had happened at the ranch.
‘But what was it all about?’ asked Lem. ‘Doggone it, Nan,
don’tcha know what they wanted?’
Nan clung to the back of a chair, weary from her wild ride over
the Coyote Cañon grades.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Rex slammed the door in their faces
before they had time to tell, I suppose. Then he ran in through my
room and fell through the window. I—I guess they thought it was
my father; so they took out after him.’
‘Dad didn’t know what it was all about, but he decided to keep
away until he could find out; so he took one of their horses and I—I
took another.’
‘And all them jiggers went huntin’ young Morgan, eh?’ grinned
Noah. ‘I’ll betcha they ruin him before they’re through.’
Lem frowned reflectively, wondering what to do. Then he stepped
over to his desk, opened a drawer and took out Peter Morgan’s six-
shooter, which he held out to Nan.
‘Didja ever see that gun before?’ he asked.
Nan looked at it, knowing down in her heart that it was the gun
Lem had picked up in the corral, but at that time she had paid no
attention to the general appearance of the gun.
‘I don’t believe I have,’ she replied calmly.
Lem tossed it back in the drawer, as though dismissing it from the
conversation.
‘I reckon we better ride up thataway and see what’s what,’ he
said slowly, and turned to Hashknife. ‘Want to go along?’
‘Like to,’ nodded Hashknife. ‘But our broncs are so sore-footed
that——’
‘Plenty broncs,’ said Noah quickly. ‘I’ll get yuh a couple. C’mon.’
When the three men were gone, Lem turned to Nan, who was
standing beside the doorway, looking out at the street.
‘Was that all yuh knowed about it, Nan?’ he asked.
‘All?’ She turned her head quickly.
‘Yeah. Yuh didn’t know why they came after yore father?’
She shook her head and looked back at the street.
‘Yuh knew I found Peter Morgan’s gun in yore corral this mornin’,
didn’t yuh, Nan?’
‘I saw you pick up a gun, Lem.’
‘Yuh didn’t know whose gun it was?’
‘How would I know?’ she parried.
‘It’s got his initials on it.’
‘Has it? He must have lost it in our corral.’
‘Looks like it,’ sighed Lem. ‘Hear anythin’ of yore brother?’
Nan shook her head. ‘Anyway,’ she said, ‘you couldn’t expect me
to answer that, could you, Lem?’
‘I’m yore friend.’
‘And sheriff of this county.’
‘Yeah, I reckon that’s right.’
‘Who are those two strange cowboys, Lem?’
‘Hartley and Stevens. The tall one is Hartley.’
‘He has fine eyes, hasn’t he?’