“Yes, sir. But I’m not—I did the best I could about marking the spots. It’s too dark to see, and a pile of stones might excite suspicion. I was afraid to strike matches.”
“Did you use up all the dust? How many spots are there?”
“Twenty-two. Yes, I used it all. That ought to be enough for an assay test, I’d imagine—taking a little from each, you understand. I distributed it so as to lead one to conclude that the entire gulch prospects.”
“Let’s see one of the spots,” said Quintell curtly. “This business has to go through without a hitch. The slightest hesitation would mean failure. He’d become suspicious. You’ll have to go about the job of picking the test gravel naturally. Make it appear that you’re doing it haphazardly.”
Billy Gee heard them moving about, and curious to ascertain more concerning what he knew to be a deliberate “salting” of worthless ground for the purpose of selling it to some tenderfoot, he crept after them. Soon he had made his way to within a few yards of them. They were fumbling among the boulders. The broker growled impatiently and struck a match. He shielded it with his hands so that the light flashed downward, showing a diminutive monument of two rocks, one laid upon the other. The match went out.
“That’ll do fine,” muttered Quintell. “They’re all like that, are they? Now, as I said, Harrison, you’re to take charge of the samples. I might not be able to get word to you to-morrow. Follow the right of way, as near as possible. That’ll be the first test. The other can be taken from any part of the gulch. I’m not dead sure of this fellow, see? I found out this afternoon that he’s been making inquiries about Jerome Liggs. It may be that he’s wise to the strike and that he’s after the Huntington ranch, as a side issue. Just because he’s a railroad man, don’t mean that he’d pass up a bonanza, by any means.”
“You saw Huntington, of course?” said Harrison. “I dare say you had matters all your own way?”
“I certainly did not—damn him! He laughed at me. I offered him ten thousand for his brush ranch—think of that!—and he fussed and giggled, and ended finally by telling me that his daughter and he had agreed not to sell. I’ve seen the time when the old devil would have sold his soul for a copper penny, if he could have jammed his girl through college. He’s got a few beans, to-day, and—by the way, Harrison, she’s a fancy skirt, and I hear she’s writing a novel with your Uncle Dudley as one of the characters. Believe me, I’m dropping in on her the very next trip to Frisco! Nothing like evincing interest, you know.
“At that, I might have put the screws to Huntington and forced the sale, if it hadn’t been for Sheriff Warburton. He was there, the big bonehead. He rambled in while I sat there, check book in hand, and eyed me like something the cat dragged in. He hates me for fair. Let’s get to camp. I’m starting the boys after Huntington. I’ve given him his chance. Now he takes what he gets.”
Billy Gee, listening, heard the two men moving off toward the car, and followed them cautiously through the darkness.