"They're all through!" Brill said. "A hundred others just like you, scattered here and there. It's come to them recent just what a bad lot Lang is. It's hell what a whisper can do."
"It is when that whisper is backed by a thousand-dollar reward," Carson agreed. "If he really pays up it'll wreck Lang's little snap for sure."
Brill dabbed his cloth at an imaginary spot on the polished slab and nodded without comment.
"I reckon he launched that scheme because Slade put a price on him first," Carson said.
"I didn't know Slade was into this," Brill stated softly. "There's no proof of that. Not a shred."
"No more than there's any proof that Harris is behind these rewards," Carson said. "But you know that Slade is out to wreck the Three Bar since they've planted squatters there."
The storekeeper failed to respond.
"There's likely a dozen men looking for Harris right now," Carson prophesied.
"But it's hard for one of 'em to get within ten miles of the ranch," Brill observed. "So while they're maybe looking for him it's right difficult to see him that far off."
"I don't mind admitting that I'm for Harris—as against Slade," Carson said.