“We shall certainly have to investigate it,” he said. “You understand, of course, Burton, that you will be obliged to prove fully all the charges that you have made.”
“I have the proof,” Scott said quietly, “and can produce it whenever it is needed.”
“Very well, I’ll notify you when the hearing will be held. Jed, your permits are of course cancelled, but we’ll have to let those sheep stay on here to keep them from starving till you have a chance to dispose of them. I want you to come down to the office with me, Dawson, to clear up some other matters there. You can stay here, Burton, and look after your district as usual. You have done a magnificent job in handling this problem so far and I congratulate you. Come on, fellows.”
Mr. Ramsey was evidently anxious to get Jed and Dawson away from Scott. He, too, had caught the look of hatred and he was afraid it might blaze out any minute in open violence. He rode off toward the chute with the two stockmen and left Scott with Baxter who was eagerly waiting to hear an account of everything he had missed.
CHAPTER XV
THE MAN HUNT
“Gee,” Baxter exclaimed when he heard the story. “You certainly are the lucky one. All that doing in your first week. It’s more excitement than I have had in the past two years.”
“It has been pretty good fun,” Scott admitted, “but I suppose it will seem slow now that it is all over.”
“Not if I know Jed and Dawson,” Baxter exclaimed, “Jed is yellow and will never try a fair fight with you, but if I were you I would get a suit of mail armor for he is likely to try to shoot you in the back any time. Isn’t old Dawson a smooth one, though? Here he has been doing that thing for three or four years and yet no one ever so much as suspected him of it. He will not say or do a thing until he knows which way this investigation is going. If he finds you have anything on him that he cannot get out of, then watch out. I did not know he was crooked but I know that he will not stop at anything to get what he wants.”
“Sounds as though there might be some interest left in life yet,” Scott laughed.