Nick had him covered.
“Try again,” said the detective, “if you think you can do your own murdering.”
As he spoke, he was advancing upon Claymore, who gave one desperate look around, and saw the two wagons coming up the road.
Then he dropped his weapon, sat down on the ground, and put his hands to his face.
“You haven’t as much nerve as I thought you had,” remarked Nick.
He put handcuffs on the prisoner, and waited for the others to come up.
“I can tell you all about it,” said Nick, then. “This man Claymore found that he had bought land where the oil was scarce. He was so anxious to get the land cheap that he didn’t dare to prospect thoroughly. If he had done his work well, he would have seen that the place for oil wells is farther up the stream and nearer Low’s house.
“He found that out after a while, and then schemed to get possession of the rest of the farm without paying for it.
“Seeing that Judson would expose the crooked work of the company, he had him murdered by a couple of desperadoes who drifted into Denver just in time for the job.
“Then he did some forgery work on the deed to make it show that he had bought a good many acres more than he really had, and to back up the deed he had to come out here and change the boundary posts.