o' pulin' polecats like this yeah bunch we've jes' been
bendin' ouah guns ovah? Gawd! Ken, I'll stink o' gawlic fer a week! Ef
Coogan don't put up a betah scrap by hes lonesome than hes whole pack o'
peccaries did, why, I'm goin' to swap my ole hawg laig fer a putty
blowah an' hiah out on a sheep ranch whar they's suthin' doin'!"

And now she was waiting, waiting with a fierce impatience that bruised
the soft taper fingers gripping the jeweled hilt of a slender _cuchilla_
hidden in her bosom, waiting for the vicious crackle that would
mercifully appease the maddening insistence of those two dead men
calling from their graves in far-off Ameca.

For the greater part of an hour she shivered in an ecstasy of
expectation and fear. "Mother of God! What if they should let him escape
after all!" Clutching her stiletto, she ran vengefully out into the
night.

CHAPTER XIII

A LAUGH IN THE NIGHT

Dave Ballard was the only man in the room who immediately lighted the
cigar of Strang's passing; the others seemed indifferent to the
blandishments of the odorous goddess for the nonce. Big Bart, with the
forced composure of a trapped wolf waiting the next move of his captor,
nonchalantly chewed on his with affected indifference, but on his bull
neck the sinews stood out like whipcords. The man was no coward but just
now he was up against a game new to his great and diversified
experience, another man's game, the futility of "bucking" which is
proverbial even among layman. If it be true that the uncertainty of the
future alone makes living endurable, then Bart Coogan was just now
having the time of his life!

With his characteristic directness, Douglass came straight to the point
without delay:

"Mr. Coogan, I have just ascertained that you are the putative owner of
the O Bar O brand, the registry and record standing in your name. May I
presume so far as to ask whether the title is solely in you or is it a
partnership affair?" His tone was very respectful but business-like.

"While it's none of your damn business, I don't object to telling you
that I am the whole firm," said Coogan, insolently. "And I'd like to
know what in--!" He was beginning to get a grip on himself again and
resorted to bluster.

"Thank you!" said Douglass, quietly, restraining a great desire to send
his fist against that snarling mouth. "Now we'll get down to brass tacks
in a jiffy. In the brand referred to there are presently six hundred
head of