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"Poggin is dead, Duane; shot to pieces," replied MacNelly, solemnly. "What a fight he made! He killed two of my men, wounded others. God! he was a tiger. He used up three guns before we downed him." "Who-got away?" "Fletcher, the man with the horses. We downed all the others. Duane, the job's done it's done! Why, man, you're " "What of of HER?"
Why didn't you get here sooner?" queried Longstreth. "Poggin, damn him! We're on the outs again." "What for?" "Aw, he needn't have got sore. He's breakin' a new hoss over at Faraway, an you know him where a hoss 's concerned. That kept him, I reckon, more than anythin'." "What else? Get it out of your system so we can go on to the new job." "Well, it begins back a ways.
I sent Blossom over to Ord to get word from Jim, an' when he verified all this talk I sent Blossom again with a message calculated to make Jim hump. Poggin got sore, said he'd wait for Jim, an' I could come over here to see you about the new job. He'd meet me in Ord." Knell had spoken hurriedly and low, now and then with passion.
Here they were Cheseldine, Phil Knell, Blossom Kane, Panhandle Smith, Boldt how well Duane remembered the names! all here, the big men of Cheseldine's gang, except the biggest Poggin. Duane had holed them, and his sensations of the moment deadened sight and sound of what was before him.
Before going to sleep that night Duane had decided to go to Ord and try to find the rendezvous where Longstreth was to meet his men. These men Duane wanted even more than their leader. If Longstreth, or Cheseldine, was the brains of that gang, Poggin was the executor. It was Poggin who needed to be found and stopped. Poggin and his right-hand men! Duane experienced a strange, tigerish thrill.
Don't tell me he wanted to join the gang. You know a gunman, for you're one yourself. Don't you always want to kill another man? An' don't you always want to meet a real man, not a four-flush? It's the madness of the gunman, an' I know it. Well, Duane faced you called you! An' when I sprung his name, what ought you have done? What would the boss anybody have expected of Poggin?
If you ride down his record you'll find he's shore in line to be another Poggin, or Reddy Kingfisher, or Hardin', or any of the Texas gunmen you ought to remember.... Greaves, there are men rubbin' elbows with you right heah that my Indian son is goin' to track down!"
So until I got on the deal Jim's pard was already in the gang, without Poggin or you ever seein' him. Then I got to figurin' hard. Just where had I ever seen that chap? As it turned out, I never had seen him, which accounts for my bein' doubtful. I'd never forget any man I'd seen. I dug up a lot of old papers from my kit an' went over them. Letters, pictures, clippin's, an' all that.
Dark, silent, grim as he had been, still there was a transformation singularly more sinister, stranger. "Enough. I'm done," he said, somberly. "I've planned. Do we agree or shall I meet Poggin and his gang alone?" MacNelly cursed and again threw up his hands, this time in baffled chagrin. There was deep regret in his dark eyes as they rested upon Duane. Duane was left alone.
I guess I had a pretty good notion what I was lookin' for an' who I wanted to make sure of. At last I found it. An' I knew my man. But I didn't spring it on Poggin. Oh no! I want to have some fun with him when the time comes. He'll be wilder than a trapped wolf.
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