"That boy of mine, he couldn't stand it about Dark Valley. He was out there with a couple of pals, poking around."
"Yes?" Jerry didn't realize his voice was sharp.
"Oh, no trouble. But the middle fork of the river's started to run again!"
For a long time after Caruso had gone, Jerry sat with his cold pipe in his mouth. There were reasonable explanations for every one of the small oddities that had cropped up with Joe Merklos and his people. But he couldn't shake a growing feeling of uneasiness.
Jerry went to bed muttering, for he was a man trained to keep emotion and fact well separate. But the feeling was still with him when he awoke, and he recognized it later on Henderson's face.
"We got to get the boys together and talk this thing over," the feed and fuel owner said.
"What's up?"
"This stuff that's missin'."
Jerry gave a start. He had just spent at least half an hour looking for this garage lock.