“Certainly. I was on my way to the reservation when I saw you talking to the old man’s cowboy. You see, I don’t find much work to do, and I am going there to rest up a bit. This drought will soon be over, and then I shall have more than I can do.”
“What do you call your business, anyway?”
“Oh, stealing cattle. I take them to a little fertile spot in the Staked Plains, kill them for their hides and tallow, and give the meat to the Indians. I am chief of about a hundred men, and they will go their lengths for me.”
“Well, well! I didn’t know that.”
“You see that I can easily get the money, or whatever it is that he is keeping from you. Now, I want to know how much I am to get for this. Say a half a million.”
“I will give you half of whatever I make. Can anything be fairer than that? It may be more and it may be less than half a million.”
“Yes, that’s fair. Now let’s go back to the fire and see what the men think of this. You had better go to bed, and we’ll see how it looks in the morning.”
Henderson could scarcely sleep at all that night, and when he did he awoke to find that Coyote Bill and his men were still discussing the subject. The method of stealing the bonds instead of stealing the boy promised much better than his original scheme, for he would have no hand in it. Coyote Bill would be alone in the matter, and if he should be detected and could not be prevailed upon to tell who his accomplice was—— Ah! That was something he hadn’t spoken to Bill about. In the morning he would broach that subject, and tell Bill never to mention his name. If he did, all his hope of success would be gone. He finally fell asleep and awoke to find breakfast waiting for him. Bill greeted him with a good-morning, and immediately referred to their last night’s conversation.
“Well, I am going to try it,” said he. “I have never stolen any of Davenport’s cattle, and I don’t suppose there is anyone on his place who knows me.”
“If you are caught, don’t mention my name,” said Henderson. “He knows me, and he don’t expect any good of me, either.”