Rancho Del Muerto, and Other Stories of Adventure / by Various Authors, from "Outing"

CONTENTS


O denying it—there was something uncanny about the place at the very first glance. The paymaster admitted that to himself as his ambulance slowly drove in, and his escort of half a dozen troopers came clattering after. It was his first visit to the spot, and he shrugged his broad shoulders and murmured a word of caution to the silent clerk who sat beside him:


“I want you to keep eyes and ears open here, Staines. We've got to make a night of it. You remember that this is where Sergeant Dinsmore was murdered, and I've heard nothing but bad accounts of the people for the last six months.”
Mr. Staines was apparently a man who wasted no words. Acquiescence with him may have been expressed by silence. At all events he made no reply.
“Were you ever at the ranch before, when you made the trips with Colonel Forte?” asked the paymaster.
“No, sir, it's—all strange to me hereabouts.”