ke Al Woodruff back with him in irons. He wanted to
confront the coroner with the evidence he had found and the testimony
which Lone could give. There had been too many killings already, he
asserted in his naive way; the sooner Al Woodruff was locked up, the
safer the country would be.

He discussed with Lone the possibility of making Al talk,--the chance
of his implicating the Sawtooth. Lone did not hope for much and said
so.

"If Al was a talker he wouldn't be holding the job he's got," Lone
argued. "Don't get the wrong idea again, Swan. Yuh may pin this on to
Al, but that won't let the Sawtooth in. The Sawtooth's too slick for
that. They'd be more likely to make up a lynching party right in the
outfit and hang Al as an example than they would try to shield him.
He's played a lone hand, Swan, right from the start, unless I'm badly
mistaken. The Sawtooth's paid him for playing it, that's all."

"Warfield, he's the man I want," Swan confided. "It's for more than
killing these men. It goes into politics, Loney, and it goes deep.
He's bad for the government. Getting Warfield for having men killed is
getting Warfield without telling secrets of politics. Warfield, he's a
smart man, by golly. He knows some one is after him in politics, but
he don't know some one is after him at home. So the big Swede has got
to be smart enough to get the evidence against him for killing."

"Well, I wish yuh luck, Swan, but I can't say you're going at it right.
Al won't talk, I tell yuh."

Swan did not believe that. He waited another hour and made a mental
inventory of everything in camp while he waited. Then, chiefly because
Lone's impatience finally influenced him, he set out to see where Al
had gone.

According to Jack, Al had gone to the corral. From there they put Jack
on the freshest hoof-prints leaving the place, and were led here and
there in an apparently aimless journey to nowhere until, after Jack had
been at fault in another rock patch, the trail took them straight away
to the ridge overlooking the Quirt ranch. The two men looked at one
another.

"That's like Al," Lone commented dryly. "Coyotes are foolish alongside
him, and you'll find it out. I'll bet he's been watching this place
since daybreak."

"Where he goes, Yack will follow," Swan grinned cheerfully. "And I
follow Yack. We'll get him, Lone. That dog, he never quits till I say
quit."

"You better go down and get a horse, then," Lone advis