‘He hit you?’
‘I—I think he did.’
Nan walked back to the window, a puzzled expression in her eyes. Was it some of the 6X6, hiding at the corner of the house at night, watching for her brother, she wondered?
‘You didn’t see what this man looked like, did you?’ she asked.
‘No. You see, it was quite dark.’
A lone horseman was coming down the road, and Nan watched him ride in at the ranch. It was Lem Sheeley, the fat sheriff. She stepped out on the porch and met him, leaving the door partly open. Rex heard her call him by name, and heard him ask her if she had seen any strangers around.
‘Bunty Smith had a passenger yesterday,’ explained Lem. ‘The stage busted down at this end of the Coyote grades and Bunty sent this stranger to Mesa City after help. But he never got to town, and Bunty spent the night out there, waitin’ for him to come back. Now, we can’t find the stranger nor Bunty’s horse.’
‘I guess I’ve got the man you are looking for, Mr. Sheeley,’ said Nan. ‘Come in and talk to him about it.’
The sheriff followed Nan into the house, where Rex had propped himself up in bed. The sheriff studied Rex quizzically for several moments. Then—
‘You look as though you’d bumped into somethin’.’