"Assault with 'tent to kill. Him and another man been mixin' it up consid'able back of the hotel; other man's Hennesy, the contractor from Meteorite. Seems like Mac took after him with an ol' wagon spoke and nigh riled him to death. I got him locked up in an extry room, so come along."
Murray followed, bewildered and angered. Sandy arrested!
Piute led the way into the hotel, and to a room at the door of which stood Deadoak Stevens on guard. A stern and implacable proponent of justice, Deadoak was also possessed of a polished badge and an ancient revolver, both of which he displayed with ostentation.
"Hennesy's goin' right back to town," he informed Piute, "he wants to see ye 'fore he pulls out."
Piute strode away.
Murray, meantime, entered the room, where he found Mackintavers sitting, the picture of disconsolate despair. Sandy glanced up, then dropped a battered countenance into his hands and groaned.
"Hello!" said Murray cheerfully. "Hear you've been fighting. What's the fun about?"
"Doc, it's no use," groaned Sandy. "I'm a branded man! I thought nobody'd know me around here—but along comes a man named Hennesy, a man whom I'd had dealin's with in New Mexico. Fact is, I made him leave there for his health. Now he's turned up here. I run up against him—wham! Then we went to it, that's all."
"I hope," said Murray, "that you hurt him worse than he hurt you?"
"I done my best," was the gloomy response. "I sure knocked him out—then this here deputy sheriff dropped a gun on me."