Swanstrom sat in a tilted swivel chair at a large roll-top desk. Swanstrom had been Doc Haardt’s house manager; he was a very fat man with big brown eyes, a slow and eager smile. A black-and-white kitten was curled up on his lap.
The swivel chair creaked as he swung heavily forward and stood up. He put the kitten on the desk, said—:
“How are ya, Jack?”
Rose nodded abstractedly, cleared his throat. “This is Mister Kells... Mister Swanstrom.”
Swanstrom opened his mouth. He held out his hand toward Kells and looked at the door. Kells had stopped just inside the door; he half turned and closed it, pressed the little brass knob and the spring lock clicked. He stood looking at Rose, Swanstrom, the room.
There was a blue-shaded drop light hanging from the center of the overhead and another over the desk. There was a big old-fashioned safe against one wall, and beside it there was a short ladder leading up to a narrow shoulder-height platform that ran across all the forward bulkhead — the one through which they had entered. The bulkhead above the platform was lined with sheet iron and there was a two-inch slit running across it at about the height of a medium sized man’s eyes. There were two .30–30 rifles on the platform, leaning against the bulkhead. There was another narrow door back of the desk.
Rose went to the desk and sat down, took a gray leather key case out of his pocket and unlocked one of the desk drawers. He slid the drawer open and took out a cigar box and opened it, took out a sheaf of hundred-dollar notes, slid the rubber band off onto two fingers and counted out twenty-four. He put the rest back in the box, the box back in the drawer, locked it. He counted the money again and held it out toward Kells. “Now, if you’ll give me a receipt...” he said.
Kells took the money and tucked it into his inside breast pocket, said: “Sure. Write it out.” His face was hard and expressionless.
Rose scribbled a few words on a piece of paper and went to the desk and leaned over and signed it.
Swanstrom was still standing in the middle of the room looking self-consciously at Kells, a meaningless smile curving his mouth. He said: “Well, I guess I better go up and see if everything’s ready for the first load.” Kells said: “We’ll all go.”