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His eyes grew hard as he saw Dolver stagger, drop his pistol, and clutch at his chest; and he watched with seeming indifference as the man slowly sank to his knees and stretched out, face down, in the dust at the base of the rock. His lips were stiff with bitter rage, however, as he faced the other man, who had not moved. "Get up on your hind legs, you yellow coyote!" he commanded.
The rider's eyes quickened. "Where did you meet up with that scum?" He indicated Dolver. "In town." "Lamo?" The man nodded. "How long ago?" asked the rider. "'Bout a week." The man's voice was hoarse; he seemed reluctant to talk more, and he cast furtive, dreading glances toward the base of the rock where Dolver had stood before the rider had surprised the men.
Harlan laughed lowly. "Things don't always shape up the way a man thinks they will, Red. I started for Lamo, figurin' to salivate Dolver an' the other guy who killed Davey Langan. I got Dolver at Sentinel Rock, an' I figured I'd be likely to run into the other guy somewheres mebbe findin' him in Deveny's gang. But runnin' into Lane Morgan sort of changed the deal.
There was no thought of romance in Harlan's mind when he mounted Purgatory to take up Dolver's trail; and when he came upon Dolver at Sentinel Rock and later, until he had talked with Lane Morgan he had no thought of offering himself to Morgan, to become that trustworthy man who would "work his guns" for the Rancho Seco owner.
He noted the glances of the men the admiration that came into their eyes as with steady muscles he raised the glass and drank and he smiled with slight contempt. "Coming here, eh?" he said evenly. "So he said that. Did he mention what he was coming for?" "He didn't mention," replied Laskar. "So he downed Dolver. Did he say what for?"
Deveny glanced out of the window at the blot that was now closer. "It's Laskar, all regular," he said. "He's leading a sorrel horse Dolver's horse. Old Morgan got Dolver looks like, the damned old gopher! Men as willing as Dolver are not found every day." He looked at the third man, who had not spoken. "Lawson," he said, "you mosey down the trail a little piece and meet Laskar. Bring him here!"
Harlan had ridden eastward, to Lazette a matter of two hundred miles trailing a herd of cattle from the T Down the ranch where he and Langan were employed. When he returned he heard the story of the killing of his friend by Dolver and another man, not identified, but who rode a horse branded with the L Bar M which was the Rancho Seco brand.
It was Hallowell who broke the news of the murder to Harlan, together with the story of his pursuit of Dolver and the other man, and of his failure to capture them.
"I'm about due, I reckon," he said. "I heard you talkin' to the man you just let get away. It don't make any difference about him. I reckon he was just a tool, anyway. There's someone behind this bigger than Dolver an' that man Laskar. He didn't tell you?" Harlan shook his head negatively, watching the other intently. "I didn't reckon he would," said Morgan. "But there's somebody."
That talk of yourn about Lane Morgan makin' you manager was straight goods. I know Dolver an' Laskar an' the guy they call 'Chief' plugged Morgan for I heard Stroud an' some more of them talkin' about it. An' I heard that you got Dolver an' Laskar, an' kept Deveny from grabbin' off Barbara Morgan, over in Lamo. But I thought you was playin' for Barbara, too an' I wasn't figurin' on lettin' you."
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