he inquired.

The stranger's lips straightened coldly. "I used to have that habit,"
he returned evenly.

"Hard luck?" queried the tall man.

"I'm rollin' in wealth," stated the stranger, with an ironic sneer.

The tall man's eyes glittered. "Where you from?" he questioned.

"You c'n have three guesses," returned the stranger, his eyes narrowing
with the mockery that the tall man had seen in them before.

The tall man adopted a placative tone. "I ain't wantin' to butt into
your business," he said. "I was wantin' to find out if any one around
here knowed you."

"This town didn't send any reception committee to meet me, did they?"
smiled the stranger.

"Correct," said the tall man. He leaned closer. "You willin' to work
your guns for me for a hundred a month?"

The stranger looked steadily into the tall man's eyes.

"You've been right handy askin' questions," he said. "Mebbe you'll
answer some. What's your name?"

"Stafford," returned the tall man. "I'm managin' the Two Diamond, over
on the Ute."

The stranger's eyelashes flickered slightly. His eyes narrowed
quizzically. "What you wantin' of a gun-man?" he asked.

"Rustler," returned the other shortly.

The stranger smiled. "Figger on shootin' him?" he questioned.

Stafford hesitated. "Well, no," he returned. "That is, not until I'm
sure I've got the right one." He seized the stranger's arm in a
confidential grip. "You see," he explained, "I don't know just where
I'm at. There's been a rustler workin' on the herd, an' I ain't been
able to get close enough to find out who it is. But rustlin' has got
to be stopped. I've sent over to Raton to get a man named Ned
Ferguson, who's been workin' for Sid Tucker, of the Lazy J. Tucker
wrote me quite a while back, tellin' me that this man was plum slick at
nosin' out rustlers. He was to come to the Two Diamond two weeks ago.
But he ain't showed up, an' I've about concluded that he ain't comin'.
An' so I come over to Dry Bottom to find a man."

"You've found one," smiled the stranger.

Stafford drew out a handful of double eagles and pressed them into the
other's hand. "I'm goin' over to the Two Diamond now," he said.
"You'd better wait a day or two, so's no one will get wise. Come right
to me, like you was wantin' a job."

He started toward the hitching rail for his pony, hesitated and then
walked back.

"I didn't get your name," he smiled.

The stranger's eyes glittered humorously.