"But what are we going to do about it?"
"I had better see Judge Riley."
"What's the matter with you and me and maybe Dave going up there and standing up the bunch and running them off?" Turkey suggested. "I'd like to hold a gun on Garland. I'm going to get him. That was a dirty trick—"
"We'll get him. But Braden's the man I'm after. I'll give him a taste of the law he's so fond of."
"I'm thinking of Kathleen," Faith interposed. "If Braden was a forger, so was her father."
"But you can't let that deprive you of a hill full of coal."
"No, I didn't mean that. But if there is any way in which it can be kept quiet please take it."
"That will depend on Braden," Angus replied. "Anyway, I'll see Judge Riley the first thing to-morrow."
In the morning they entered Judge Riley's office before the judge had lighted his first pipe. He listened to Turkey's story, puffing hard, occasionally rumpling his gray mane.
"I knew it," he said. "I knew that some time Braden would put his foot outside the law. Your potential law-breaker merely waits for an opportunity which he thinks is safe. Braden thought he was safe enough, and he is a pretty cautious individual. It is one thing to be morally sure that he committed forgery and another to prove it. Now, let's see what evidence we have to go on."