“I’ll beat it for Silverton to tell his family,” offered Banty.
They carried Soapy to Doctor Meyers’ office, where the doctor immediately went to work, trying to locate the buckshot. Brick and Harp went to the office and sat down. Brick held his head in his hands, thinking of every angle of the affair; trying to find a reason why anyone would murder Soapy Caswell.
“They waited for him,” said Harp hoarsely. “ ’em, they was there when I came out. But why did they shoot old Soapy? Why, he’s a good old jigger, Brick. Soapy barked a lot, but he never bit anybody.”
“They rohbed him of twenty-seven thousand dollars today,” said Brick. “He had it in the back of that buckboard, and we were held up on Big Elk grade, near where Baldy went over the edge.”
“You jokin’, Brick?” Harp did not believe.
“Look at the skin off my face,” suggested Brick. “One wheel went off the edge and I took a header down the hill. One man pulled the trick. He was masked—and he knew Soapy was carryin’ that payroll money, Harp.”
Harp swore softly and looked closely at Brick. He still thought that Brick was joking.
“Twenty-seven thousand dollars, Brick? My , how much money is that?”
“Well, it’s twenty-six days’ wages for over two hundred men. Soapy said that their wages would average about five dollars per day. Figure it out, cowboy.”
“Well, I’ll be ed, if this country ain’t gettin’ awful salty, Brick. But what can we do? When they start shootin’ buckshot from ambush in the dark, what’s the use of us, I’d like to know? By cripes, I’d sure like to swap lead with the jigger that shot Soapy.”