n's a nut! I bet he
gets alone up in here and smokes hop, that's what he does, all by
himself. No one but a dope fiend would pull stuff like that.

"But still," she added, a finger at chin, "what bothers me is, how does
Charlie know Waldhorn? Unless----"

"Unless what?" asked Sim Gage, his brows suddenly contracting.

"Unless they're both in on this deal! What do you suppose the Doc
thinks? What makes him keep this Waldhorn close as he does? Is he a
prisoner?"

"No, I reckon not. We all just got orders to shoot him if he tries to
get away. I think Doc's holding him until he gets word in from
outside. Things seems to me to move mighty slow."

"Well, this letter's addressed to Charlie Dorenwald, and anything
that's got Charlie Dorenwald's name on it is crooked, and you can
gamble on that. Can't you find the Doc?"

As it happened, Doctor Barnes had not yet left his quarters for his
nightly trip to the lower canyon. He had been trying to sleep. He
rose now, full-clad and all awake, when he caught sight of Sim Gage's
face at his door.

"What's up?" he said.

"This here," said Sim, "is a letter that Annie brung me out of the
house where them two is living. She says she found it in there. We
can't make nothing out of it. Seems like this Waldhorn here had
something to say to Charlie Dorenwald. Annie says it's the same
Dorenwald that was up above, at the ranch, the one Wid didn't get.
Well, how come him and Waldhorn to know each other, that's what I want
to know. So does Annie."

"What I want to know, too!" said Doctor Barnes, reaching out his hand.

"Annie says it's plumb nutty, the stuff in it," commented Sim. The
other looked at him quizzically.

"She read it then?"

He read it now, himself, and stood stiff and straight at reading.
"This is a cypher--code stuff! They know what it means, and we don't.
'Two-nineteen sharp'--I wonder what that means! This is the nineteenth
day of the month, isn't it? 'Signal general satisfaction'--Lord! I'd
give anything for a good night's sleep. Gage, go on over and tell all
the men to keep full dressed, and with equipment handy all night long.
I don't have any clear guess what this is all about, but we can't take
any chances."

"Wid, he thinks them fellers ain't coming down here a-tall," said Sim
confidentially.

"He doesn't know anything more about it than I do or you do," said
Doctor Barnes somewhat testily. "You go and tell Annie to shut that
desk