Lawler stayed in the capital for a week, and when he returned he went directly to the Circle L.
No word came from him, to Willets, during the summer.

He did not appear in town; though Willets heard that the new Circle L ranchhouse had at last been completed, and that Lawler was living in it.

Also, the Circle L outfit had been recruited to full strength; Blackburn was occupying the new cabin.
When Corwin--who was chairman of the county committee--sent out calls for the county primary election--which convention was also to choose delegates to the state convention, to be held later--Lawler did not appear.

He sent a note to Corwin, asking to be excused.
"I reckon he ain't entirely over that wound," Corwin told an intimate friend.

"We'll have to get along without him, this time." But there was a light in Corwin's eyes which told that he was not unaware of the significance of Lawler's trip to the capital with McGregor.
There came a day when Corwin and his brother-delegates got on a train at Willets and were taken to the capital.