“Pretty good. In fact, if I was any better, I’d have to be tied.”
They talked for a few minutes, and Blaze had about decided to go on to the ranch when Della and Butch Van Deen entered the saloon from the rear door. Blaze stared at Della, but she paid no attention to him. Her clothes were clean and there was nothing about her to indicate that she had been thrown in the dirt.
Butch did not look towards Blaze and Cultus. He talked with Della for a few minutes before she went upstairs, and then went to the roulette game where he spoke to Hank North. Hank shrugged his shoulders, glanced towards the poker table, where Alden Marsh was playing, and turned back to Butch.
It was evident that Hank was telling Butch how small the chances were to get Alden out of the poker game, and Butch evidently agreed with him. Without looking toward Blaze, Butch turned and walked from the rear of the saloon.
Blaze frowned thoughtfully, told Cultus good night and walked from the saloon. He crossed the street and hurried down to a point across from the livery stable, where he stood and watched Butch ride in, leading a saddle horse, which he turned over to the keeper, and then rode back toward the Triangle X.
“I guess I’m gettin’ kinda loco myself,” mused Blaze, as he went up to his horse. “I bring her to town on my horse, and a few minutes later she rides her own horse in, and nothin’ to show she ever got dumped in the dirt. And I distinctly felt a big tear in one of her sleeves. This kinda hocus-pocus shore makes me paw my head.”
He climbed on his horse and headed for the Circle M.
CHAPTER XIII: TIGHTENING ROPES
For quite a number of years John Freeman had been cashier of the Medicine Tree Bank. Painted Valley had seen his hair turn from brown to gray during the years he had served them, and they knew him for an honest man. He lived simply and alone, never having been married. From one end of the valley to the other, he was known as “Uncle John,” as much a fixture of the bank as the faded gold-leaf letters on the window.
Just now John Freeman sat at his old desk, facing Jim Kelton, one of his oldest friends. It had been difficult for Jim Kelton to come to Medicine Tree, but he knew the cause was urgent.