Before Ross could reply, some one called Mr. Leonard out into the hall. As the door closed behind him, Ross arose and stood silently in front of the open window. Beyond the little town and beyond the level stretch of "shelves" arose the Big Horn Mountains, miles away, but so sharply outlined in the clear air that they seemed only a short walk distant.
As Ross leaned against the window-casing, some one in the room adjoining came to the open window. The stub of a cigar was thrown out, and a voice exclaimed:
"But if Grant realized the situation, he’d never have sent a boy out here to look after those claims. And it looks as though it was his son–same initials. But with such a boy and Weimer you ought to be able––"
The speaker left the window at this point, and Ross lost the rest of the sentence. In a few moments, however, some one clattered through the hall and down the stairs, with spurs jingling. A horse stood on the street below, tethered only by its bridle-reins dangling to the ground. From the entrance to the building Sandy McKenzie emerged, clad as on the previous day, except for a colored handkerchief knotted about his neck. Mounting his pony, he touched a spur to its flank, and galloped away in a cloud of dust just as Leonard returned.
"Who’s in the next room?" asked Ross.
"Over on the right?" asked Leonard carelessly. "Oh, a lawyer has that office." He crossed to the window, and glanced out just as McKenzie disappeared. "Evidently Sandy’s pulling out for the mountains," he observed. "Miners’ Camp, that is."
"Are there only two McKenzies?" asked Ross.
Leonard shrugged his shoulders. "Two are all that have ever showed up around here–Sandy and Waymart; but they say there are half a dozen more brothers and cousins, some figurin’ under names not their own; but where they put up I don’t know."
Here he turned and looked curiously at Ross. "I suppose your father told you that Sandy and Waymart are sitting up on Meadow Creek waiting to jump the Grant-Weimer claims."
"Yes, he told me," answered Ross, and hesitated. "Do they use guns in the jumping process?"