"It looks as though I'd have to send for an interesting witness I've held in reserve down at the hotel," Childress resumed. "I have in mind one Duncan O'Hara, formerly head buster on the Rafter A, the man who brought me word of Canada's new owner. If it had not been for him we might still be beating about the range seeking definite proof of Fitzrapp's duplicity. As it is, we've filled a royal flush."
At last the range manager broke under the weight of evidence. "You won't need O'Hara," he said slowly, a bitter note, which he was unable to banish, creeping into his tone. "If he's double-crossed me, there's no use trying to fight. My hand is all played out."
"Take him to the city prison, Mahaffy," ordered Childress. "I've got to go down to the court house and clear this warrant off the boards."
When the constable and his prisoner had entered a taxi and driven out of the exposition grounds, the sergeant turned to the widow.
"Although you two women never have met, you seem to have found some bond in common," he said with a whimsical grin. "Permit me to present Mrs. John Childress, so new to the part that she'd probably stumble if you'd asked her to name her real name."
"Ah, my hearty congratulations to you both," said the gallant old major effusively.
"A romance of the Fire Weed," murmured Ethel Andress, and embraced the fair neighbor. "When did it happen, my dear?"
"If by it you mean when we were married—that was yesterday afternoon when we rode in from the ranch," said Flame, flaunting furious blushes. "But it wasn't exactly a romance of our Fire Weed range. Seems to me it was all settled one stormy afternoon in Crow's Nest of all places. At least we were certain when we succeeded in riding out through a hail of outlaw lead."
"It's fine to have married into the Royal," said the widow, any past interest she may have had in the enigma of the Open A forgot.
"Jack never told me that he was a Mountie," said the colorful bride, her freckled eyes more alive than usual. "Thanks to a moonlight meeting on a night that was touch-and-go with tragedy, I knew from the first. As long as he was in mufti I pretended blind ignorance. But just because he didn't confide in me, I think I'll marry him out of the Service. We need him down on the range."