--s that so?--Corcoran shot at him.
--es,--Middleton said calmly, with no inflection in his voice that could be taken as a threat.---- chief of the Vultures.-- Corcoran glared at him puzzled.--hat-- your game?--he demanded, his tone thick with the deadly instinct of his breed.
--hat-- what I want to know!--bawled McNab.--e killed Grimes for you, because he was catchin'ton to things. And we set the same trap for this devil. He knew! He must have known! You warned him--told him all about it!----e told me nothin't--grated Corcoran.--e didn't have to. Nobody but a fool would have been caught in a trap like that. Middleton, before I blow you to hell, I want to know one thing: what good was it goin'tto do you to bring me into Wahpeton, and have me killed the first night I was here?----didn't bring you here for that,--answered Middleton.
--hen what-- you bring him here for?--yelled McNab.--ou told us--
-- told you I was bringing a new deputy here, that was a gun-slinging fool,--broke in Middleton.--hat was the truth. That should have been warning enough.----ut we thought that was just talk, to fool the people,--protested McNab bewilderedly. He sensed that he was beginning to be wound in a web he could not break.
--id I tell you it was just talk?----o, but we thought--
-- gave you no reason to think anything. The night when Grimes was killed I told everyone in the Golden Eagle that I was bringing in a Texas gunfighter as my deputy. I spoke the truth.----ut you wanted him killed, and--
-- didn't. I didn't say a word about having him killed.----ut--
--id I?--Middleton pursued relentlessly.--id I give you a definite order to kill Corcoran, to molest him in any way?--
Corcoran't eyes were molten steel, burning into McNab-- soul. The befuddled giant scowled and floundered, vaguely realizing that he was being put in the wrong, but not understanding how, or why.
--o, you didn't tell us to kill him in so many words; but you didn't tell us to let him alone.----o I have to tell you to let people alone to keep you from killing them? There are about three thousand people in this camp I--e never given any definite orders about. Are you going out and kill them, and say you thought I meant you to do it, because I didn't tell you not to?----ell, I--McNab began apologetically, then burst out in righteous though bewildered wrath:--amn it, it was the understandin'tthat we-- get rid of deputies like that, who wasn't on the inside. We thought you were bringin'tin an honest deputy to fool the folks, just like you hired Jim Grimes to fool--m. We thought you was just makin'ta talk to the fools in the Golden Eagle. We thought you-- want him out of the way as quick as possible--
--ou drew your own conclusions and acted without my orders,--snapped Middleton.--hat-- all that it amounts to. Naturally Corcoran defended himself. If I-- had any idea that you fools would try to murder him, I-- have passed the word to let him alone. I thought you understood my motives. I brought Corcoran in here to fool the people; yes. But he's not a man like Jim Grimes. Corcoran is with us. He--l clean out the thieves that are working outside our gang, and we--l accomplish two things with one stroke: get rid of competition and make the miners think we--e on the level.-- McNab stood glaring at Middleton; three times he opened his mouth, and each time he shut it without speaking. He knew that an injustice had been done him; that a responsibility that was not rightfully his had been dumped on his brawny shoulders. But the subtle play of Middleton't wits was beyond him; he did not know how to defend himself or make a countercharge.
--ll right,--he snarled.--e--l forget it. But the boys ain't goin'tto forget how Corcoran shot down their pards. I--l talk to--m, though. Tom Deal-- got to be out of that jail before daylight. Hopkins is aimin'tto question him about the gang. I--l stage a fake jail-break for him. But first I--e got to get this arm dressed.--And he slouched out of the cabin and away through the darkness, a baffled giant, burning with murderous rage, but too tangled in a net of subtlety to know where or how or who to smite.
Back in the cabin Middleton faced Corcoran who still stood with his thumbs hooked in his belt, his fingers near his gun butts. A whimsical smile played on Middleton't thin lips, and Corcoran smiled back, but it was the mirthless grin of a crouching panther.
--ou can't tangle me up with words like you did that big ox,--Corcoran said.--ou let me walk into that trap. You knew your men were ribbin'tit up. You let--m go ahead, when a word from you would have stopped it. You knew they-- think you wanted me killed, like Grimes, if you didn't say nothin't You let--m think that, but you played safe by not givin'tany definite orders, so if anything went wrong, you could step out from under and shift the blame onto McNab.-- Middleton smiled appreciatively, and nodded coolly.
--hat-- right. All of it. You--e no fool, Corcoran.-- Corcoran ripped out an oath, and this glimpse of the passionate nature that lurked under his inscrutable exterior was like a momentary glimpse of an enraged cougar, eyes blazing, spitting and snarling.
--hy?--he exclaimed.--hy did you plot all this for me? If you had a grudge against Glanton, I can understand why you-- rib up a trap for him, though you wouldn't have had no more luck with him than you have with me. But you ain't got no feud against me. I never saw you before this mornin't----have no feud with you; I had none with Glanton. But if Fate hadn't thrown you into my path, it would have been Glanton who would have been ambushed in the Blackfoot Chief. Don't you see, Corcoran? It was a test. I had to be sure you were the man I wanted.-- Corcoran scowled, puzzled himself now.
--hat do you mean?----it down!--Middleton himself sat down on a nearby chair, unbuckled his gun-belt and threw it, with the heavy, holstered gun, onto a table, out of easy reach. Corcoran seated himself, but his vigilance did not relax, and his gaze rested on Middleton't left arm pit, where a second gun might be hidden.
--n the first place,--said Middleton, his voice flowing tranquilly, but pitched too low to be heard outside the cabin,---- chief of the Vultures, as that fool said. I organized them, even before I was made sheriff. Killing a robber and murderer, who was working outside my gang, made the people of Wahpeton think I-- make a good sheriff. When they gave me the office, I saw what an advantage it would be to me and my gang.
--ur organization is air-tight. There are about fifty men in the gang. They are scattered throughout these mountains. Some pose as miners; some are gamblers--Ace Brent, for instance. He-- my right-hand man. Some work in saloons, some clerk in stores. One of the regular drivers of the stage-line company is a Vulture, and so is a clerk of the company, and one of the men who works in the company-- stables, tending the horses.
--ith spies scattered all over the camp, I know who-- trying to take out gold, and when. It-- a cinch. We can't lose.----don't see how the camp stands for it,--grunted Corcoran.
--en are too crazy after gold to think about anything else. As long as a man isn't molested himself, he doesn't care much what happens to his neighbors. We are organized; they are not. We know who to trust; they don't. It can't last forever. Sooner or later the more intelligent citizens will organize themselves into a vigilante committee and sweep the gulch clean. But when that happens, I intend to be far away--with one man I can trust.--
Corcoran nodded, comprehension beginning to gleam in his eyes.
--lready some men are talking vigilante. Colonel Hopkins, for instance. I encourage him as subtly as I can.----hy, in the name of Satan?----o avert suspicion; and for another reason.
The vigilantes will serve my purpose at the end.----nd your purpose is to skip out and leave the gang holdin'tthe sack!----xactly! Look here!-- Taking the candle from the table, he led the way through a back room, where heavy shutters covered the one window. Shutting the door, he turned to the back wall and drew aside some skins which were hung over it. Setting the candle on a roughly hewed table, he fumbled at the logs, and a section swung outward, revealing a heavy plank door set in the solid rock against which the back wall of the cabin was built. It was braced with iron and showed a ponderous lock. Middleton produced a key, and turned it in the lock, and pushed the door inward. He lifted the candle and revealed a small cave, lined and heaped with canvas and buckskin sacks. One of these sacks had burst open, and a golden stream caught the glints of the candle.