‘Pete Morgan and old man Lane had a fight in Mesa City yesterday, and Pete knocked him down. They tell me that the old man drawed a deadline against the 6X6. He tried to draw a gun on Pete, but Joe Cave blocked him. I reckon he’d have killed Pete.’
‘By golly, they’ll monkey with that old buzz-saw until he does kill some of ’em. You ort to go and have a talk with that 6X6, Lem.’
‘That would do a hell of a lot of good.’
‘Tough outfit?’ asked Hashknife.
‘No tougher than the rest, I don’t suppose. But Peter Morgan has kinda bossed things around the Mesa City country until his punchers think they can do just as they please. This nester shore slipped one over on old Pete when he homesteaded that place.[’]
‘I dunno yet why Pete didn’t have somebody homestead it for him. I reckon it was because Pete thought he could keep anybody off, anyway. He’s shore scared a lot of nesters off that side of the road. But Lane was jist as tough as Pete; so he’s still there.’
‘With his son hidin’ out,’ added Noah sadly.
‘And the rest of the country givin’ us hell because we don’t smoke him out,’ sighed Lem.
‘What kind of a feller was this Leach?’ asked Hashknife.
‘Tough hombre,’ replied Noah. ‘We figure he got what he went lookin’ for.’