He found the brim of his derby hat, which Red Eller had kicked loose from its crown, and it pained him greatly. He accepted a drink, went out to his horse, which he mounted and headed for Cañonville.
‘If that horse ever bucks, that collar will slice old Briggs’s ears off,’ declared Spike Cahill. ‘Funny old coot. Him and Pete Morgan was pretty close friends, even if they did cuss each other out at least once a day.’
‘What do you suppose he meant—about that will?’ asked Jack Fairweather.
‘Liquor talkin’. Old Briggs would rather argue than eat. The minute somebody says “there is,” old Briggs is sure to say “there ain’t.” But I sure don’t sabe that boiled shirt and collar and the hard hat.’
It was three days after the voluntary surrender of Paul Lane and his son, when Hashknife, Rex, and Lem Sheeley rode to Mesa City from the Lane ranch. Spike Cahill had come to the ranch the day after their attempt to capture Paul Lane and recovered their guns. If Spike bore any malice toward Hashknife, Sleepy, or Rex he failed to show it, but at that time he did not know that Paul Lane had surrendered to the sheriff.
Both men had sworn that they were innocent of the charge, and they both denied shooting Noah Evans, who was slowly recovering. Long Lane swore he had not seen Ben Leach after he left the Oasis saloon, and that he did not take Ben’s horse and gun.
Of course, no one believed them, and every one knew that they had surrendered to the law rather than take a chance of being lynched. Their guilt was so firmly fixed in the eyes of the cattlemen that any twelve men in the county would have convicted them without leaving the jury-box.
Sleepy urged Hashknife to forget the case. As far as he could see there was nothing to keep them in the Black Horse range any longer, and Sleepy was anxious to get settled in a job for the winter.
But Hashknife was not satisfied. The shooting of Noah Evans was one thing unexplained. After talking with Paul Lane, he was satisfied that neither the old man nor his son was bitter enough against the 6X6 to bushwhack one of that outfit, especially when the light was so bad that they could not identify their target.
And there was Rex Morgan, whom Sleepy had dubbed ‘The Orejano.’ Who in Mesa City had sent money to his mother? wondered Hashknife. And that was the reason why Hashknife, Rex, and the sheriff had ridden to Mesa City. Hashknife had talked it over with Lem Sheeley, and they decided to seek information at the Mesa City Bank.