“Oh, I respect your secrecy. But really, Hartley and Stevens are too well known to do much good.”
“Eh?” Le Moyne frowned heavily. “Those two men at the Taylor ranch?”
“Sure. The two best man hunters you could have hired. But it’s a case of them being too well known.”
“Yeah?” Le Moyne smiled thinly. “Too well known, eh? But don’t blame me—I’m not the Santa Rita company.”
“That’s true.”
“Personally, I know nothing about their reputation, Lee.”
“You don’t? Well, I don’t know very much, but I do know that they’ve never lost a case. I’d hate to have them on my trail.”
“Well,” Le Moyne shrugged his shapely shoulders, “it seems as though we had hired two very good men, Lee.”
“You have.” Barnhardt laughed and grew confidential. “Tex Alden is as sore as a boil. He didn’t want them two men to stay at the ranch. He intended to run the ranch himself.”
“He did, eh?” Le Moyne scowled. “Yeah, I suppose he would. I’m glad he missed out on that. And I’m glad the sheriff and the railroad detective had to make that arrest. It rather lets me out of any blame in the matter, you see.”