“I will speak to you after a while,” said Henderson, turning his gaze toward the rest of the men at the fire.
“Oh, you may speak freely here! I never go into anything without their consent. It’s share and share alike here. But if you would rather speak to me alone, why it is all right. Have you got supper ready?”
The man appealed to nodded, and pointed to a pile of bacon and corn bread that was waiting for them. It was such a supper as Henderson, in his St. Louis home, would have turned up his nose at, but he was ready for it now. During the meal but little was said, and Henderson, out of the corner of his eye, took a good survey of the man that everybody called Coyote Bill. He didn’t look like such a desperate fellow, by any means, and all the men who had had experience with him described him as a very different person. This proved that Bill did not always lead his bands, but gave the movement into somebody else’s hands, and appeared only when out of reach of the settlers. He was as neat as a new pin, and showed by every move he made that he had been well brought up. After supper he lighted his pipe and motioned to Henderson to follow him out on the plains. When out of reach of everybody he threw himself down on the grass and invited Henderson to do the same.
“Now, then,” said he, “I am ready to hear all your plans.”
“I don’t know that I have got any,” said Henderson.
“Yes, you have,” said Coyote Bill, in a tone that showed he was not in a mood to argue the matter. “A man needn’t come around here with such a face as you have got on you and tell me anything like that. What was the reason you did not go on and see Davenport? I saw you talking with a cowboy of his not more than three hours ago.”
“Where were you?” asked Henderson, more astonished than ever.
“We were just behind a neighboring swell, not more than half a mile away. Your names are not alike, but still you must be some kin to Davenport. What relationship are you?”
“I am his half brother.”
“That makes you next of kin, don’t it? Well, now, if that man dies, who is going to inherit his property?”