“He came out here to complete the deal, and I told him what I had learned. He denied it all, of course. In fact he became indignant, slapped his paper on the table and demanded that I keep my end of the bargain. I kept it, by throwing him out. That is the last I have ever seen of Jim Reed.”
“What about the paper?” asked Hashknife anxiously.
“Didja see it?”
Big Medicine laughed shortly.
“I kept it, Hartley. It was just several sheets of blank paper, folded together.”
Hashknife laughed softly and began rolling another smoke.
“I have a suspicion that Jim Reed is crooked,” he said.
“Everything points that way,” admitted Big Medicine.
The talk drifted to things along the border and Hashknife asked him if he knew Steve Guadalupe.
“I have only seen him once,” said Big Medicine. “Guadalupe is afraid to cross the border. It is five years since he was on this side—at least, openly. He hates the whites, but they say he will do anything for gold.