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There had been much discussion of it at the Shoe-Bar, and now she recalled vaguely hearing that it had first broken out in these very pastures. Doubtless, as a method of prevention, the surviving stock had been moved elsewhere, and her chances for help would be as likely in the midst of a trackless desert as here.
Well, it looks as if we had a chance of bagging him at last," he added in a tone of heartfelt satisfaction. "Going to arrest him before we start for the Shoe-Bar?" asked Buck. Hardenberg laughed shortly. "Hell, no! You don't know Paul Draper if you think he could be convicted on your statement, unsupported by witnesses.
"It would be a whole lot pleasanter for me, but I'm wondering if you wouldn't do more good there on the Shoe-Bar. With nobody at all to cross him, there's no tellin' what Lynch might try and pull off. Besides, it seems to me somebody ought to be there to sort of look after Miss " He broke off, struck by a sudden possibility. "You don't suppose he'll get really nasty about what you "
This might readily be accounted for by the fact that the work now lay on the other side of the outfit, but Buck was convinced that their real purpose was to allow the blackleg scourge to gain as great a hold as possible on Shoe-Bar cattle before its discovery.
Stratton's teeth dug into his under lip, and one hand gripped the edge of the counter with a force that brought out a row of white dots across the knuckles. "You mean to tell me there's a a woman at the Shoe-Bar?" he asked incredulously. "At it?" snorted the old man. "Why, by cripes, she owns it! Not only that, but folks say she's goin' to run the outfit herself like as if she was a man."
At first he could scarcely believe that the sandy stretch below him was the north pasture he was seeking. But swiftly he realized that the threadlike line a little to the south must be the fence dividing the desert from the fertile portions of the Shoe-Bar, and he even thought he recognized the corner where the infected steer had been driven through.
Also and this he told himself was even more important he would have a chance of quietly investigating conditions on the ranch. Pop Daggett's vague hints, his own observations, and the intuition he had that Miss Thorne was worrying about something much more vital than the mere lack of hands, all combined to make him feel that things were not going right at the Shoe-Bar.
"Rocking-R boss, he tell me take thees to Mister Leench at Shoe-Bar. Eef yo' take heem, I am save mooch trouble, eh?" Buck eyed the extended envelope doubtfully. Then, ashamed of his momentary hesitation to perform this simple service, he took it and tucked it away in one pocket. "All right," he agreed. "I'll take it over for you. I've got to go in to town first, though."
So far as Bud knew there had been no stranger on the Shoe-Bar at that time; but it seemed certain that the fellow must have been sent by Lynch to spy around and find out where Buck was. "I s'pose he went to the ranch-house first and Tenny sent him down here, knowing he wouldn't get much out of Gabby," remarked Stratton. "Well, as far as I can see he had his trouble for his pains.
For the first time he remembered that he was playing a lone hand, that the very nature of his business was likely to rouse the most desperate and unscrupulous opposition. Considering the value of the stake and the penalties involved, the present occupant of the Shoe-Bar was likely to use every means in her power to prevent his accusations from becoming public.
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