“I’ll be darned,” he said slowly. “Lotsa things I don’t sabe yet, Hartley. You say that Cutter and his gang knowed you was after ’em, and jist the same they go and leave a twenty-two shell layin’ around where you could find it.”
“They didn’t, Slim; I dropped it there myself. Their mistake was in admittin’ it.”
“F’r gosh sake! And what made you think Jimmy Moran didn’t shoot Conley?”
“Because there was two shots fired. Jimmy shot one, but Conley didn’t shoot any.”
“The hell he didn’t? There was an empty shell—”
“But it never was fired in Conley’s gun. He always kept the hammer of his gun on an empty shell, Slim. This shell had a queer dent in the primer, so I accidentally fired the gun to see what mark it made. That was the time Horse-Collar and his gang started the trouble. After the gravel in Mallette’s boots proved that he’d been dragged, I picked the judge as the killer.”
“Detectin’,” said Slim slowly, “ain’t nothin’ but jist common sense, is it?”
“And a lot of luck, Slim.”
“Well, I’ll be danged!”
Slim went clumping back into the house, anxious to talk.