“Who’s was it, then?” Ramsey asked in astonishment.
Every one listened in strained silence. Baxter had joined the party contrary to orders to see the fun.
“Dawson’s,” Scott replied, looking straight at the ranger.
Every eye was turned on Dawson in amazement. Scott could not help but admire the man’s magnificent nerve. The accusation must have come as a complete surprise to him, but not an eyelash quivered. He looked at Scott as though in surprised amusement.
“Mine?” he asked smiling. “I guess your success has gone to your head. How do you make that out?”
“I happen to know,” Scott said looking Dawson calmly in the eye, “that you are Jed Clark’s partner in the sheep business, that you recommended Heth as a patrolman on this district knowing him to be Dugan, a crook, and Jed’s foreman, and that you planned this whole thing from start to finish.”
There was a gasp of astonishment from every one except Dawson. Mr. Ramsey looked from Scott to Dawson in utter bewilderment.
“You are either going crazy or are a most magnificent liar,” Dawson responded coldly. “You have made some statements here that you either have to prove or answer to me for.”
A deadly hatred blazed for a moment in the ranger’s face, but he quickly controlled it. He turned calmly to the supervisor. “I demand an investigation of this thing from start to finish.”
The supervisor was clearly at a loss. The ranger’s reputation during his past eight years of service was such that he could not believe that there was any possible foundation for the charges, and yet Scott had shown a remarkable skill in unraveling this matter so far and seemed confident of his charges.