“Yes? I don’t quite understand you.”
“I’m not talkin’ riddles,” said McGurk. “Mebbe yuh don’t know what I mean, and mebbe yuh do. Last night”—McGurk shifted his belt a trifle, but kept his eyes on Big Medicine’s face—“we chased three men and a packhorse, comin’ from toward the border.
“They had the jump on us. We chased ’em here to yore place, where they gave us the slip long enough to make a getaway. We follered ’em over the ridge on the south side of the cañon back of here, but lost ’em in the breaks.”
“Interesting,” said Big Medicine.
“Yeah, it is.” McGurk was sarcastic. “Yuh remember I spoke about a pack animal? Well, when we gave up the chase, Skinner says he’s sure they’ve ditched the packhorse. We decided to circle back this way and take another look, and we runs slap into a feller takin’ the horse away from here, from yore ranch.”
“From here?” queried Big Medicine wonderingly.
“Yeah, from here. But he seen us at the same time. The packhorse was too tired to run, so he cut loose and got away down through a manzanita flat, but we got the pack animal.”
“Well—and then what?” asked Big Medicine.
“The pack sacks were empty.”
“Empty?”