at will. Not being armed, we fell back to consolidate
losses instead of gains. Have you any suggestions or plans?" Logan's
reply and question was directed at Landy. Like others, in their first
contact with midgets, he was giving Davy the status of a child. He
could not credit him with experience or expect counsel from that
source. Landy's reply was not comforting.

"Wal, hit does look like a couple o' killin's en the expense of two
funerals 'fore ye can git action. Old Matt, the daddy of 'em, is
reported as havin' a private graveyard, scattered eround somewhar. Hit
might come in handy in this emergency. In yer gaddin' around have ye
ever seen enything like hit?" concluded Landy, turning to Davy.

"I never did!" said the midget emphatically. "It's got more
entanglements than the time Solly Monheim took the bankrupt law to
escape bankruptcy. That's the way Solly explained it after his show
went on the rocks at Lincoln. And anyhow," he added to Logan, "why
don't you peddle the thing to someone else and let them take the grief
and do the slaughtering?"

"There's no slaughtering, as you call it, involved," said Logan with
much dignity. "It's a lawful proceeding. If anyone is killed it will
be done legally and in due process of enforcing the law."

"So you left the law out of it, left the sheriff at home, and went
prowling on your own. If the old belligerent had cut down on one of
these cow hands this morning, everything would have been legal and
orderly?"

Davy's sarcasm struck home. Logan's face flushed. He realized that he
was talking to an adult, not a child. He resented the criticism. But
for the fact that the little man was a friend of Landy Spencer he
would have made a harsh reply or ignored him entirely.

"Well, just what is your interest in the matter?" he questioned. "I
don't see your name on the list of bank stockholders. Maybe you are
kin to the Barrows, sort of looking after their interests?"

"No, I am not related to the Barrows. Never had the pleasure of ever
seeing one of 'em. I don't know where they live, couldn't find the
place without a guide. Wouldn't know how big it was after I'd seen it.
I'm just an innocent bystander with big ears and a lot of curiosity.
There is a rumor abroad that the ranch is in the hands of a receiver,
that it's for sale, that the receiver is having some trouble about
possession. If I could get just a few facts and find this receiver,
I'd make him a proposition to buy it 'as