"It was no go?"
"No."
"Keep away from Bissett," was McClure's low counsel. "There are easier prospects. If not we'll have to chuck it."
"Chuck nothing!" was Sykes' incisive ejaculation. "This community's full of suckers. There are droves of easy rubes hereabouts fairly howling, 'Come touch me up.'"
For a moment McClure rubbed his chin reflectively. Sykes eyed him closely.
"I know what you are hunting down," said he, looking McClure full in the eye. "You're on just one trail these days. You are tracking the boss of the Valley Outfit."
McClure looked up surprised.
"I see I've hit it," resumed Sykes with a laugh. "Bissett put me next a little fact that has a whole barrelful of possibilities. He informs me that Pullar's three-quarter sections are all in the old man's name."
McClure shook his head.
"Don't believe it. Ned's too good a head to stand for that."