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De Spain put his left hand into his side pocket and held out an unsealed envelope to Morgan. Duke, taking the envelope, eyed it distrustfully. "What's this?" he demanded, opening it and drawing out a card. "Something for easier riding. An annual pass for you and one over the stage line between Calabasas and Sleepy Cat with Mr. Jeffries's compliments."
He couldn't lie in bed straight. And Harvey Logan, with his black hair plastered over his eyes. Why, for one drink those two fellows would turn loose on this crowd and kill half a dozen. De Spain had excellent ears. He had heard of these Calabasas men of Sandusky and of the little fellow, Logan.
Nothing in the way of a venture could be more foolhardy this he admitted to himself nothing, he consoled himself by reflecting, but something stronger than danger could justify it. There was no choice but to use him, and he was easily enlisted, for the Calabasas affair had made a heroic figure of de Spain in the barrooms.
Morning, noon, and night she had heard nothing but the fight at Calabasas discussed by the men that rode in and out of the Gap and in connection with it, de Spain's unexplained flight and disappearance. Those that knew the real story of the conspiracy to kill him did not talk much, after the disastrous outcome, of that part of the affair.
We had gone to Calabasas to get a load of wheat from a store owned by a man named Richardson, who had been a Colonel in the volunteer service. Richardson had as manager of the store a fellow named Long, who was well known for his passion for gambling.
I guess you know, full as well as I do, that the general office at Medicine Bend has its own investigators, aside from the division men. I was sent in to Morgan's Gap some time ago to find out who burned the Calabasas barn." "Railroad man, eh?" "For about six years." "And you report to ?" "Kennedy." De Spain paused in spite of his resolve to push the questions.
"Stand away from that girl!" repeated de Spain harshly, backing the words with a step forward. Morgan's grasp relaxed. Nan, jerking away, looked at de Spain and instantly stepped in front of her cousin, on whom de Spain seemed about to draw. "What are you doing here?" demanded Morgan, with an enraged oath. "I left some business with you the other day at Calabasas half finished," said de Spain.
He asked about the noise in the street. "That noise, William, comes from all Calabasas and all Morgan's Gap," explained Lefever, still fondling the rifle. "The Morgans are celebrating our defeat. They put it all over us. We were challenged yesterday," he continued in response to the abrupt questions of Jeffries. "The Morgans offered to shoot us offhand, two hundred yards, bull's-eye count.
If we haven't been seen coming in here by some of this Calabasas bunch, I miss my guess," declared Lefever cheerfully. The batten door behind the bar now began to open slowly and noiselessly. Lefever peered through it. "Come in, Pedro," he cried reassuringly, "come in, man. This is no officer, no revenue agent looking for your license.
They had walked out of the trees. He looked reluctantly to the east. "Tell me and I'll go," he promised. "After I went up to my room I waited till the house was all quiet. Then I started for Calabasas. When I came back I got up to my room without being seen, and sat at the window a long time. I waited till all the men stopped riding past.
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