“You’ve put me in a hard position.”
“Not half so hard as you’ll be in later, Benner. You can wipe me off the slate, if you want to, but that’s not going to help your case any. Buffalo Bill knows I came here, and if I don’t get back to the Star-A ranch he’ll know what’s happened to me. You’re going to get scratched, Benner, no matter which way the cat jumps.”
Benner’s face was a study.
“How much did you find out?” he demanded.
“A heap more than I expected to,” was Wild Bill’s answer.
“He’s buffaloed us oncet, Lige,” said Red Steve, “an’ don’t let him do it ag’in. His light kin be snuffed so’st nobody’ll ever know who done it. I’ll take the job.”
“Not yet awhile,” returned Benner. “See that he’s bound so he can’t slip the ropes, Steve, and then put your men on guard around the house.”
“I’ll stay right in this hyer room with him, if ye want,” offered Red Steve.
“That’s not what I want. You can stay at the door of the living room, and you can put one or two men at the outside window, but Wild Bill stays in here alone.”
It was evident that Lige Benner hesitated to trust Red Steve alone with the prisoner. The fiery-haired Texan would perhaps have taken matters into his own hands, in spite of Benner’s orders.