Allen thought to himself.
“He’s sure enough a cool customer, an’ he’d do anything—cut a man’s throat without a wink. Mebbe he threw that old-timer down the shaft, himself. But if the Blue Sky is as rich as he says it is, there ain’t no use tryin’ to hitch him up with them quartz robbers. A man worth a million doesn’t go about stealin’ thousands.”
It was late noon when Jack Allen turned up the path that led to the American Beauty Mine. Jim Allen, who was sitting on a bench on the shady side of the house, saw him coming and arose to his feet with the idea of vanishing, but on second thought he decided to remain and speak to his brother. Pop Howes was over visiting Hard-rock Hogan, and Mrs. Howes was asleep upstairs, so there would be no one to report that the sheriff had talked to the outlaw. But Jim was mistaken in this, for Mrs. Howes peered through the window and saw the meeting between the two brothers.
“Hello, Jack,” Jim said hesitatingly.
“Hello, yuh darned ol’ hoss thief,” Jack responded with a grin.
“Yuh ain’t changed none sense I see yuh last up in Wyoming.”
“You neither—yuh don’t look a day over twenty.”
There was a heavy silence. Both rolled and lit cigarettes. The woman watched through the window, and her heart ached at their attempt to appear casual and indifferent. She knew that here were two men, twin brothers, who had slept together, fought side by side in a feud that had rocked the whole West, until at last they were the only ones left. They had no other kin; all had died in the feud. Yet the two had been separated by an impassable gulf since that day when Jim Allen had shot and killed a United States army captain. That the killing had been deserved and had prevented an Indian uprising made no difference. Jack was one who believed in the letter of the law.
“Yuh remember when we was kids an’ pa used to hide our dinner an’ make us track it or go hungry?” Jim asked.
“Yeh. Yuh was always better’n me. Guess yuh are still,” Jack answered and stared down the gulch. He had less ability to hide his feelings than his twin; Jim had been forced to wear a mask so long it had become second nature to him.