trouble?" the other demanded abruptly.

"I expect."

"Then find out for me what Phil Sanderson did with the knife his sister
lent him two days ago. Find out whether he lent it to anybody, and, if
so, who."

"What for?"

It had come to a show-down, and the other tabled his cards.

"I found that knife yesterday mo'ning. It was lying beside the dead cow
in the park where your friends happened on me. I reckon the rustlers
must have heard me coming and drove the calf away just before I arrived.
In his hurry one of them forgot that knife. If you'll tell me the man
who had it in his pocket yesterday when he left-home, I'll tell you who
one of the Malpais rustlers is."

Jim considered this, his gaze upon the far-away range. When he brought
it back to Keller, he was smiling incredulously.

"I hear you say so, seh. But what a man with, a halter round his neck
says don't go far before a court."

"I expected you to say about that."

"Then I haven't disappointed you." He continued presently, with cold
hostility: "That story you cooked up is about the only one you could
spring. What surprises me is that a man with as good a head as yours