Carp spoke softly, as if to himself, detailing his failure to gather conclusive evidence against Slade.
"I even run your rebrand on fifty or so Three Bar cows. You knew there wasn't a dollar changed hands when Morrow gave me that paper which licensed me to rustle my own she-stock. We can't even prove that you didn't owe him two years' back pay and square up by giving him that bill of sale. There's never a check of yours made out to Morrow that's gone through the bank. The boys who staged the stampede drew down a lump sum from Morrow for the job. We know who was financing the raid—can't be proved. The idea in my starting up was to run your rebrand on any number of Three Bar cows. Later Morrow would buy me out—acting for you; can't be proved. Oh, you're in the clear, all right."
Slade broke in upon the monologue. This recitation of his probable immunity from conviction on every count, far from reassuring him, served to confirm his original suspicion as to the reason for this arrest without witnesses. If the sheriff had wanted him he had but to send word for Slade to come in. He threw out one last line and the answer convinced him beyond all doubt.
"Then a lawyer will have me out in an hour," he predicted.
"A lawyer could," Alden said. "If you saw one. But we've decided not to let you have access to legal advice for the first few days."
Slade turned on Carpenter.
"This sort of thing is against the law," he said. "You're a United States marshal. How can you go in on a kidnapping deal?"
"I'm not in on it," Carp shrugged. "The sheriff asked me to arrest you at the first opportunity. I've turned you over to him. The rest is his affair. Besides, like I was mentioning, they can't prove a thing on you. As soon as they're convinced of that they'll turn you loose."
The sheriff nodded gravely.
"The very day I'm satisfied Harris can't prove his charges I'll throw open the doors. You'll be a free man that minute."