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Updated: May 20, 2025
"You mean " began Sheila in a low voice. "I mean that I think they're rustlers cattle thieves!" said Duncan venomously. The flush had gone from Sheila's cheeks; she turned a pale face to the Double R manager. "How long have these men lived in the vicinity of the Double R?" "Doubler has been hanging around here for seven or eight years. He was here when I came and mebbe he's been here longer.
He rode out with Langford many times, and though he covertly questioned the Double R owner concerning the affair with Doubler he could gain no satisfying information.
"What!" exclaimed my volatile friend, becoming suddenly grave, "leave Blue-eyes behind me! leave the mitigator of my woes, the doubler of my joys, the light of my life behind me!
Doubler was hospitable and solicitous and supplied her with some soda biscuit and fresh beef and a tin cup full of delicious coffee. She refused to enter the cabin, and so he brought the food out to her and sat on the step beside her while she ate, betraying much interest in her. Doubler asked no questions regarding her identity, and Sheila marveled much over this.
"Business," presently said Langford with a quiet significance which was not lost on Duncan, "good business, demands the application of certain methods which are not always agreeable to the opposition." He took another sly glance at Duncan. "There ought to be a good many ways of making it plain to Doubler that he isn't wanted in this section of the country," he insinuated.
Determined to get to the bottom of the affair as quickly as possible, Sheila continued rapidly, her scorn giving way to eagerness. "Don't you know?" And this time her voice was almost a plea. "What did father visit you for? Wasn't it about Doubler? Didn't he hire you to to kill him?"
It had turned out better than he had planned, for since he had burned the agreement that he had made with Dakota, the latter had no hold on him whatever, and if it were finally proved that he had committed the crime there would come an end to both Dakota and Doubler. Only one thing puzzled him.
She read the words several times, standing beside the bench and swaying back and forth, a sudden weakness gripping her. "One month from to-day" ran the words "I promise to pay to Dakota the sum of six thousand dollars in consideration of his rights and interest in the Star brand, provided that within one month from date he persuades Ben Doubler to leave Union County."
"Well," said Langford, leaning farther back in his chair and clasping his hands, resting his chin on his thumbs, his lips curving with an ironic smile, "I suppose I ought to feel extremely grateful to you especially since when I was negotiating the purchase of the ranch you didn't hint of a nester being on the property." "I didn't sell Doubler to you," said Duncan. Langford's smile was shallow.
Langford's reticence further aggravated the passions which rioted in his heart, and finally one afternoon when they rode up to the ranchhouse his curiosity could be held in check no longer, and he put the blunt question: "What have you done about Doubler?"
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