“Everything rings true to me, except Doug Huston. He hasn’t made a move out of the way, but I don’t like his eyes.”
“Neither do I. Maybe it’s unfair to Doug, but I’m going to play a hunch and keep a mighty close watch on him. Think the other boys suspect we’re anything but a couple of punchers?”
“No one except Joe Haines, and he knows we’re not out here just for the fun of it.”
“I’m not worried about Joe, but I don’t want the others to get suspicious and I especially want them to keep out of Dirty Water where they might start talking.”
“I guess we’ll be too busy riding range for anyone to get to town for a couple of weeks.”
“This thing will go one way or another by that time. We’ll either have the rustlers behind bars or they’ll have control of the valley. Let’s go.”
They splashed through the mud of the corral and made their way to the cookhouse. Lee Wu, who had been reading, welcomed Slim.
“Supper hot,” he said.
“I’m going up to the house. See you later.” Chuck left the cookhouse and Slim was alone with the Chinese cook.
Lee Wu hurried in with hot food. There was plenty of hash, bread, and coffee and Lee opened a can of sliced peaches.