CHAPTER XXII
A HORSE AND A SNAKE
During the days which followed at Big Horn Ranch the Rover boys and their chums asked Joe Jackson if he knew Bud Haddon and the other men who had been with him.
“Yes, I know Haddon,” answered the foreman of the ranch. “He used to work for Bimbel on a ranch on the other side of the river; but I think he left there several months ago.”
“Well, if he did, I rather think he’s going back,” answered Jack. “Can you tell us anything about him?”
“Oh, I imagine he’s as good as the average fellow around Bimbel’s place,” answered Joe Jackson. “You see, none of our crowd have much to do with that outfit. Bimbel is a hard fellow to get along with, and some of the men working for his outfit have rather shady characters.” The foreman looked at the boys curiously. “How do you happen to know the fellow?”
The lads had come to like the foreman very much and felt that they could trust him thoroughly, so they told their story in detail, to which Jackson listened with interest.
“Looks to me as if Haddon was trying to blackmail that kid Bangs,” was his comment. “That is unless there was something in the talk about that barn being burned with the horses. It’s just possible that fellow Bangs had something to do with it and Haddon was making him pay for keeping his mouth shut.”
“Do you know anybody by the name of John Calder whose barn burned down?”
“No. That couldn’t have been anywhere around here or I certainly would have heard about it. But there’s one thing I do know,” added the foreman suddenly. “There’s a man named Jarley Bangs who owns a ranch on the other side of the river—a small place next to the one run by Bimbel.”