“No,” Charlie shook his head. “He didn’t tell me nothin’. If he’d kept as close a mouth to everybody as he did to me, he’d be alive yet, I guess. I know he did, that’s all.”
“And he made some sort of crack at Buck about this, didn’t he?” Rock hazarded. “After that the fireworks began.”
Charlie nodded.
“Doc was awful outspoken when he got his back up about anything,” he said. “Buck tried to horn him away from the Maltese Cross on account of Alice, I guess. They had words about it. Nobody was around to hear what was said, but Doc told me he put a bug in Buck’s ear about range bosses with ambitions to get rich off the outfit they worked for. I asked him if he meant that Buck wanted to grab Alice an’ the outfit, with a parson’s assistance, an’ he just grinned. I told him if he knew anything he better keep his mouth shut where Buck Walters was concerned. Been better for him if he had.”
“I wish he had, too,” Rock said. “He’d be alive now, and he’d be darned useful. I got ideas about Mister Buck Walters, myself.”
“How?”
“Better not be too curious, kid,” Rock advised. “What you don’t know won’t hurt you. Better you aren’t mixed up in anything. Nobody aims to hang you to a cottonwood, or bushwhack you in some lonely coulee. I only asked you about these mysterious pens to check up on something I found out. If you don’t know, of course you can’t put me wise.”
“Have they got anything to do with us bein’ shy a few calves this spring, d’you suppose?” Charlie asked thoughtfully. “Because, if it has, I might get mixed up in it yet. I don’t know as I’d sit tight an’ keep quiet if I thought anybody was rustlin’ off Nona. She needs all she’s got.”
“That I don’t know, yet,” Rock said frankly. “I can tell you this much, Charlie: If there is any connection between what I know and suspect and Nona’s missing calves, she’ll get ’em back with interest.”
“Gosh! You sure got me goin’,” Charlie grumbled.