“Did you tell any one else?”
“No. What’s ailin’ you, Mac?”
“Just this. I don’t want to go to the penitentiary because you can’t keep your mouth shut, Larry. Falkner is the last man you ought to have told. I don’t want him with us to-night. He’s too anxious to get at Tait.”
“Oh, well, I guess he’ll be reasonable.”
Falkner rode up the trail out of the shadowy gloom. “Thought you’d lose me, did you? Fine stuff, boys. How’s yore busted laig, Sam? And did you get that important letter, Brad? I know you other lads got the cattle to the Circle Diamond because I saw them there.”
“What do you want, Hal?” asked Rowan curtly.
“Me, Mac? Same as you. I want to shoot some pills into Mary’s little lambs. Did you think I was riding for my health?”
“We don’t want you along with us. Our party’s made up.”
“Short and sweet, Mac. What’s the objection to my company?” demanded Falkner frostily.
“No personal objection whatever, Hal. But we don’t want any one along that has a grudge at Tait. We’re fighting for the range, and we don’t intend to settle any individual scores.”