“No, Link, I guess not. I’ve seen it all and I think I’ll go down and visit with the boys at the bunkhouse till you get back.”
Bob thought he detected a glance of understanding flash from one to the other but put it down to his being suspicious of everything that occurred. He accepted O’Day’s invitation and they moved off the veranda in separate directions.
Bob instinctively liked the man who was showing him what had been done to reclaim the desert. By the time they got back to the house they had become good friends and the man had asked the boy to come up and visit the ranch again.
They found Jerry at the bunkhouse sitting in a game of poker with four or five of the cowboys. The players asked Bob to take a hand in the game but he refused. He had never played cards for money and he never intended to. Somehow, he was surprised that Jerry was playing; he had never mentioned cards, but Bob had always felt that Jerry was not that sort. He watched for a moment and saw that Jerry was evidently quite far behind. He was flushed and nervous.
“Come on, Jerry,” Bob said; “let’s be getting back.”
“No,” snapped the other. “I’m not ready. Go along yourself if you’re in such a hurry.” Then he went on with the game.
But before Bob left he heard a name which he recognized. Someone had spoken to one of the players calling him “Harper.” He tried to think where he had heard the name before. Then it came to him. Harper was one of the men Ted Hoyt had told him about who had tried to make Ted’s father join in the plot against the dam. Although Bob had started for the door he stopped. Possibly the other man Wesley was here too. He was, for a moment later Jerry said:
“I’ll call you, Wesley,” and shoved some chips to the center of the table. The man addressed, a rather villainous looking person, smiled and laid down his hand. Jerry did not smile. He threw his cards face down on the table. He had lost.
Bob’s mind began to act quickly. The links of his chain of evidence against Jerry were rapidly coming together. From Ted he had learned that Wesley and Harper represented the most desperate faction of the cattlemen; they were the spokesmen of the crowd that wanted the Mexicans to do real damage to the dam. Here they were gambling with Jerry and winning from him.
Wasn’t there a likelihood that they were doing this to get the boy under some obligation to them? If so, it was a point against Jerry. Then, Jerry was intimate with Miguel, who undoubtedly was the leader of the dissatisfied and reckless element among the Mexican laborers. The cattlemen had no way of getting in touch with the Mexicans at the dam without being suspected of some treachery. Hence Jerry’s coming to them might possibly have been a lucky thing from their standpoint. Still all this was circumstantial and as yet Bob had no proof. But everything that happened made him more and more suspicious of Jerry’s good faith.