"And you figure after giving things time to get forgotten they've gathered up a crowd of toughs and started in on this district?"
"It seems that way."
"How?"
"System," Bud declared sharply. "They're takin' a steady toll of us, an' other folks in the district. We trailed 'em to the hills, an'—lost 'em. Say, if we don't handle 'em it means——"
"Something like ruin for the—Obar."
Jeff's manner was shorn of any equivocation. He spoke with almost ruthless force, but the coldness of tone was incomparable with the steely light in his blue eyes.
After a moment's silence he turned away. He stood looking back over the trail he had just left, and Bud regarded his keen profile, waiting. He felt there was nothing more for him to say at the moment.
At last the other turned in his quick, decided fashion as the sound of the women's voices reached them from within the parlor.
"Will you stop and eat with us?" he asked bluntly.
Bud shook his head.