“That’s the question without any answer.”
“Where are Hartley and Stevens?”
“I dunno. Mebbe they’re with Slim.”
Ed Merrick and Ben Collins rode in from the Circle M, and heard about Slim’s experience before they had their horses tied. Abe Liston of the 3W3 gave them the news.
“By Gee, they can’t lay that on to Joe Rich,” declared Abe. “Slim and Joe were darned good friends.”
“Where’s Slim now?” asked Merrick.
“Nobody knows, except that he’s with them other punchers at the HJ. Honey Bee and the two girls just came in a while ago, and Honey says he don’t know where they are.”
Merrick found Honey a little later and asked him about the incident. He told Merrick about the same story Abe had told, except that he elaborated on the shooting in the dark between Hashknife and the unknown gunman.
“Well, what do yuh make of it?” asked Merrick.
“I don’t know,” laughed Honey. “Looks like somebody had gone plumb crazy.”