Now where was it?
His first suspicion was that one of his men had been using it. But he
knew that that was impossible. He would have seen it, and moreover one
man does not take another man's saddle without saying by your leave.
"The thing is worth three hundred dollars, easy," he muttered. "It would
be funny...."
He went to the loose hay heaped at the wall and began to kick it about,
half expecting to have his boot strike against the silver tipped horn or
the heavy tapaderos. And then at last did the swift, certain suspicion
of the truth flash upon him. He came upon a small soap box hidden far
under the loose hay. He drew it out, whisking away the straw which half
filled it. After the first start of amazement and a swift examination of
the contents, he understood.
"A plant!" he cried angrily. "A damned cowardly plant! Lord, Lordy, but
they're making a clean job of this!"
Upon the top of the pile, the first thing he took into his hands, was a
heavy silver watch. It bore a name, scratched within the case, and the
name was that of Jed MacIntosh, the man who, Blackie had told him, had
been "cleaned out" in Dry Town. There were two bank notes, one for ten
dollars, one for twenty, and both were soiled with dark smears that told
of dry blood.
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