stockinged feet went to the
window.

It was a rear window, looking out upon the roofs of sheds and the backs
of other buildings. The night was dark and, save for a soft breeze,
quiet. The first words Turkey heard were calculated to destroy any
scruples.

"I thought the boys were going to beat Mackay up," said a voice which at
first he could not identify. Another voice which he knew for Garland's
replied:

"They will, later. Blake has it in for him good and plenty."

"Over that girl on the dry ranch, I s'pose," the other speculated.

"There's a lot of things."

"Blake's a darn fool," said the other, and now Turkey knew the voice. It
was Poole's. "He's too fond of women and booze. He's in a mess right
now. That klootch wants him to marry her."

"She's got another guess coming."

"Well," said Poole judicially, "if he ain't going to marry her, if I was
him I'd pull out for a while. Some of her folks might lay for him."

"She hasn't got any folks but her grandfather."

"At that, some of these old bucks is bad medicine. Well, it's none of
our funeral. When will the Mackay ranch be sold?"

"Soon as the old man can work it. I wish we could touch him up for some
coin. I'm broke."

"Me, too," said Poole. "Trouble is we ain't got nothing on him. We
couldn't give him away without giving ourselves away, and he knows it.
We couldn't prove a darn thing, anyway. _He_ didn't rustle them cattle
either time, nor he didn't blow out Mackay's ditch in the dry spell. We
couldn't prove that he even knew of them things, let alone framed 'em up
and paid for 'em. He'd give us the laugh if we tried to hold him up."

Turkey, leaning out into the night, listened in amazement. So the stock
had been rustled. The speaker could not refer to anything else. But what
was this about the ditch? Turkey made a swift deduction which was fairly
accurate. That was what Angus meant when he had demanded the names of
men responsible for something unknown to Turkey. Somehow, Angus had
connected him with it. It must have been through his knife. That must
have been found on the ground, and Angus had naturally assumed that he
had been there. At this point obstinacy had prevented an understanding,
set him and Angus at cross-purposes, and led to a fresh quarrel.

Turkey ground his teeth softly and cursed beneath his breath. So that
was the stuff that was being put over on Angus. The "old man" must be
Braden. For the first time, Turkey began to see clearly