Essential Western Novels - Volume 4. Max Brand

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СКАЧАТЬ done it?" asked Mason.

      "No," replied the foreman. "There's been horses in and out from the highway recently. You could see that plain in the dirt; and there were horses tied up to his hitchin' rail last night, but I didn't mess around here any after what the sheriff told me. So everything's about like it was after the old man croaked."

      "I'll take a look around," said Mason, who had dismounted.

      Dropping his reins to the ground, he approached the shack. He moved slowly and deliberately, his keen eyes searching for any sign that the soft earth might give back to him. For several minutes he scrutinized the ground about the hitching rail, and then he entered the shack.

      Inside he disturbed nothing, but examined everything minutely. For a brief moment he paused at the side of the cot, looking down into the upturned face of the dead man, the ghastliness of which was accentuated by the wound in the center of the pallid forehead.

      Whatever thoughts the sight engendered in the mind of Buck Mason were not reflected in his calm, inscrutable gaze.

      At Mason's feet lay the boot upon which the murderer had stepped and stumbled; and to it the eyes of the deputy dropped, casually at first and then with aroused interest. He stooped down then and examined it closely, but he did not touch it. After a moment he straightened up and left the shack, pausing again to make another examination of the ground about the hitching rail.

      As he joined the men beneath the tree they looked at him inquiringly. "Well," asked Kidder, "what do you make of it?"

      Mason squatted down upon his heels, his eyes upon the ground. "Well," he said, "there were five of them. At least there were five horses tied to the hitching rail last night, and that's about all we have to go on."

      "About all? What do you mean?"

      "There aint much more except that it don't look like a case of robbery. As far as I can see there wasn't nuthin' touched in the shack."

      "A lot of folks thought the old man kept money hidden here," said Kidder.

      "Yes, I know that," replied Mason, "and I expected to find the shack all torn to pieces where they searched for it."

      "Mebbe he give it to 'em," suggested one of the cowhands.

      "I reckon you didn't know old man Gunderstrom very well then," said the foreman. "In the first place he never kept no money here, and in the second place he wouldn't have told them where it was if he had."

      "I think he had started to reach for his gun," said Mason.

      "Mebbe that's why they bored him," suggested the cowhand.

      "Maybe," assented Mason.

      "This'll be tough on the girl," said Kidder.

      Mason made no comment. His eyes were searching the ground all about the three men, though they did not know it.

      "I reckon she'll live through it," said the cowhand, "especially after she gets a slant at her bank balance. She'll be the richest gal in a dozen counties."

      "There'll be plenty hombres campin' on her trail now," said the foreman, shooting a quick, shrewd glance at Mason.

      "Did the old man have any squabbles with anybody lately?" asked the deputy sheriff.

      "He was a hard man to do business with," replied Kidder; "and there's lots of folks around here that didn't have much use for him, but there aint no one that I know of that had any call to kill him."

      "Did he have any new business deals on with anyone that you know of?"

      "I didn't know nuthin' about his business," replied Kidder; "he kept that to himself. But I've seen signs around the shack before that there'd been fellers up here at night. I don't know who they was or what they come for, and I never seen 'em. I just seen horse tracks around once in a while; and I knew fellers had been here, but it was none of my business, and I kept my mouth shut."

      "Here comes a car," said the cowhand.

      "That'll be the sheriff and the coroner," said Mason.

      "Lizzie made pretty good time," said Kidder. "They must have packed her on their shoulders and run."

      "She's hittin' on two and a half," said the cowhand; "which is better than I ever seen her do before."

      As the car wheezed to a stop, the fat and jovial Doc Bellows lowered himself ponderously to the ground; and after the brief greetings of the cow country he asked a few questions.

      "When you go in the shack," said Mason, "I wish you'd both notice that boot of Ole's that's lying in front of the cot. You seen it, didn't you, Kidder?" The foreman nodded. "Well," continued Mason, "guess all of you'll remember where you seen it; and then, sheriff, I wish you'd take care of it and not let nobody touch it."

      "Is that a clue?" demanded the sheriff.

      "I don't know that it amounts to nuthin'," replied Mason, "but I'd like to have the chance to follow it up."

      "Sure," said the sheriff.

      "All right then, I'll be gettin' along," replied the deputy. "There aint nuthin' more I can do here," and as the other men entered the shack he mounted and turned Bull's Eye's nose down the road toward the main highway.

      It was late when the sheriff returned to his office, but Uncle Billy Cage was still there.

      "There weren't no call for you to stay all night, Uncle Billy," said the sheriff.

      "I wanted to see you," said the old man. "I got some important news for you, but by gum I don't believe it."

      "What is it?" demanded the sheriff.

      "About an hour after you left the telephone rung and some feller at the other end that talked like he had a harelip said, 'Is this the sheriff's office?' and I said, 'Yes'; and he said, 'Do you want to know who killed Gunderstrom?' and I said, 'Sure'; and he said, 'Well, it was Buck Mason,' and then he hung up."

      "I don't believe it," said the sheriff.

      "Neither do I," said Uncle Billy Cage.

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      III

      BRUCE MARVEL

      THE TF ranch in Porico County, Arizona, had fallen upon bad days. For three generations its great ranges, its wooded mountains, its widely scattered streams and water holes had remained in one family; but the males of the third generation, educated at Eastern colleges, softened by contact with the luxuries of large cities, had left their vast principality in the hands of salaried managers and contemporaneously the cattle business had suffered one of its periodic slumps.

      It is not necessary to go into the harrowing details that are all too familiar to cattle men. Several years before, title had passed to a group of banks that held paper far in excess of the present value of the property, which, in order СКАЧАТЬ