the same
gang--coiners, I believe, every one of them. They work here and push
in Texas."
"Can you spot the room when you get up-stairs, where we saw that
streak of light a minute ago?" demanded Pardaloe, gazing at the black
front of the building.
"I can spot every foot of the place, up-stairs and down, in the dark,"
declared Lefever, peering through the inky night at the ruinous pile.
Instead of meeting de Spain, as appointed, Lefever had come in from
the Thief River stage with Scott three hours late only to learn of the
fight at the Inn and de Spain's disappearance. Jeffries had already
sent a party, of whom Pardaloe, a man of Farrell Kennedy's from
Medicine Bend, had been picked up as one, down from Sleepy Cat, to
look for the missing man, and for hours the search had gone forward.
"Suppose you go back to the barn," suggested Pardaloe, "and wait there
while I go in and have a little talk with the landlord."
"Why, yes, Pardaloe. That's an idea," assented Lefever feebly. Then he
laid the first two fingers of his fat right hand on the lapel of his
companion's coat: "Where should you like your body sent?" he asked in
feigned confidence. "Concerning these little details, it's just as
well to know your wishes now."
"You don't suppose this boob will try to fight, do you, when he knows
Jeffries will burn the shack over his head if another railroad man is
attacked in it?" demanded Pardaloe.
"The most ruinous habit I have had in life--and first and last I have
contracted many--has been, trusting other people," observed Lefever.
"A man shouldn't trust anybody--not even himself. We can burn the
boob's shack down--of course: but if you go in there alone the ensuing
blaze would be of no particular interest to you."
"All right. We go in together."
"Not exactly that, either. You go first. Few of these forty-four
bullets will go through two men at once."
Ignoring Lefever's pleasantry, Pardaloe, pulling his hat brim through
force of habit well over his eyes, shook himself loose and, like a big
cat walking in water, stepped toward the door. He could move his tall,
bony frame, seemingly covered only with muscles and sinews, so
silently that in the dark he made no more sound than a spectre. But
once before the door, with Lefever close at hand, he pounded the
cracked panels till the windows shook. Some time elapsed before there
was any response. The pounding continued till a flickering light
appeared at a window. Th
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