mean to tell me that you ain't
_on_! I saw you steer to her room one night--the night she came here. And
once or twice, since. But of course us hotel clerks don't see anything!
She is down on the register as Mrs. Harvey. But say! You don't see any
married women running around the country dressed like her!"

"She may be a widow."

"Well, yes, maybe she might. But she shows speed, don't she?" He
whispered. "You're a pretty good friend of mine, now, and maybe if I'd
give you a tip you'd throw something in my way later on--eh?"

"What?"

"Oh, you might start a hotel here--or something. And I'm thinking of
blowing this joint. This town's booming, and it can stand a swell hotel in
a few months."

"You're on--if I build a hotel. Shoot!"

The clerk leaned closer, whispering: "She receives other men. You're not
the only one."

"Who?"

The clerk laughed, and made a funnel of one hand. "The banker across the
street--Braman."

Corrigan bit his cigar in two, and slowly spat that which was left in his
mouth into a cuspidor. He contrived to smile, though it cost him an
effort, and his hands were clenched.

"How many times has he been here?"

"Oh, several."

"When was he here last?"

"Last night." The clerk laughed. "Looked half stewed when he left. Kinda
hectic, too. Him and her must have had a tiff, for he left early. And
after he'd gone--right away after--she sent one of the waiters out for a
horse."

"Which way did she go?"

"West--I watched her; she went the back way, from here."

Corrigan smiled and went out. The expression of his face was such as to
cause the clerk to mutter, dazedly: "He didn't seem to be a whole lot
interested. I guess I must have sized him up wrong."

Corrigan stopped at his office in the bank, nodding curtly to Braman.
Shortly afterward he got up and went to the courthouse. He had ordered
Judge Lindman to issue a warrant for Carson the previous morning, and had
intended to see that it was served. But a press of other matters had
occupied his attention until late in the night.

He tried the front door of the courthouse, to find it locked. The rear
door was also locked. He tried the windows--all were fastened securely.
Thinking the Judge still sleeping he went back to his office and spent an
hour going over some correspondence. At the end of that time he visited
the courthouse again. Angered, he went around to the side and burst the
flimsy door in, standing in the opening, glowering,