“How long have these men lived in the vicinity of the Double R?”
“Doubler has been hanging around here for seven or eight years. He was here when I came and mebbe he’s been here longer. Dakota’s been here about five years. He bought his brand—the Star—from another nester—Texas Blanca.”
“They’ve been stealing the Double R cattle, you say?” questioned Sheila.
“That’s what I think.”
“Why don’t you have them arrested?”
Duncan laughed mockingly. “Arrested! That’s good. You’ve been living where there’s law. But there’s no law out here; no law to cover cattle stealing, except our own. And then we’ve got to have the goods. The sheriff won’t do anything when cattle are stolen, but he acts mighty sudden when a man’s hung for stealing cattle, if the man ain’t caught with the goods.”
“Caught with the goods?”
“Caught in the act of stealing. If we catch a man with the goods and hang him there ain’t usually anything said.”
“And you haven’t been able to catch these men, Dakota and Doubler, in the act of stealing.”
“They’re too foxy.”