“One moment, Jake,” he said. “I don’t wish to give offense, but tell me why, if you have discovered so much about Anton, have you let these things go on so long? Think of the murder of Manson Orr, of Arizona’s wound, of the dozen and one outrages of which even I am aware.”
Jake stood silently contemplating him for a while. Nor was there any sign of his swift anger. He smiled faintly, and again Tresler noted the nasty tone of derision in his voice when he answered.
“I thought maybe you’d learnt a deal out here where you find everybody on their own. I thought you’d p’r’aps learned that it ain’t wise to raise trouble till you’ve got the business end of your gun pointin’ right. Can’t you see there’s not a cent’s worth of evidence against the man yet? Have you ever heard where he runs his cattle? Has anybody? Has any one ever seen under that mask? Has any one been found who could identify even his figure? No. Red Mask is a will-o’-the-wisp. He’s a ghost; and it’s our business to find the body o’ that ghost. I’m not the fool to go around to Anton and say, ‘You are Red Mask.’ He’d laugh in my face. An’ later on I guess I’d be targettin’ a shot for him. What if I rounded to the gove’nor an’ got him fired? It would be the worst possible. Keepin’ him here, and lying low, we have a chance of puttin’ him out of business. No, sir, we’re dealin’ with the smartest crook west of Chicago. But I’ll have him; we’ll get him. I never was bested yet. An’ I’ll have him, same as I get any other guy that crosses me. Let’s get on.”
They moved out of the hut.
“It’s been taking you some time, already,” Tresler suggested with a smile, as they moved across the open.
Jake took no umbrage. His dark face responded with a sardonic grin, and his eyes were fiercely alight.
“Tchah!” he ejaculated impatiently. “Say, you never heard tell of a feller gettin’ his own good, an’ gettin’ it quick. Cattle-thieves ain’t easy handlin’, an’ I don’t jump till I’m riled.”
Tresler made no answer, and the two reached the stable without exchanging another word. Inside they found Anton at work, cleaning harness. He looked up as they came in, and Tresler eyed him with a renewed interest. And the man’s face was worth studying. There was no smile, no light in it, and even very little interest. His smooth, tawny skin and aquiline features, his black hair and blacker eyes, in their dark setting, had a devilish look to Tresler’s imagination. He even found himself wondering where the good looks he had observed when they met before had vanished to. Jake nodded to him and passed into Bessie’s stall at once.
“This is the mare, Tresler, the dandiest thing ever bred on this ranch. Look at her points. See the coat, its color. Red roan, with legs as black as soot. Say, she’s a picture. Now I guess she’d fetch a couple of hundred dollars away down east where you come from.”