“Suits me, feller. Adios!”
Arnold climbed into the saddle and was gone.
CHAPTER X
THE LAST STAKE
Templeton Buck might have a dirty streak in him, but he was no coward.
If the man’s make-up held a large amount of deliberate criminality, of cold and unscrupulous evil, it also held a large amount of strength and resolute purpose. Otherwise, Buck could never have remained the leader of such men as followed him.
And on this bright and sunny morning Templeton Buck was facing the hardest battle he had ever faced—a battle with himself.
On the previous night he had learned of the disaster which had overwhelmed all his craftily laid plans. True, he had Jake Harper a prisoner, tied into the big chair before the fireplace. But Robinson had turned out to be Sam Fisher—and the roads were watched by the Circle Bar men.
The story told by the two men on the previous night had been utterly incredible, but with daylight it had been backed up when Sandy Davitt undertook to ride forth. Sandy’s horse had been killed under him. No one else tried to leave the Running Dog buildings.
Here in the living room of the ranch house, alone with the old man tied into the chair, Buck paced up and down, fighting out his battle. Would he lie to his men, or tell them the truth? That was it.