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Page 61
"I ain't goin'," he whined, "to have folks suspicion me of any
such doin's as the killin' of 'Ole Man' Terrill. I got a witness
to prove I wasn't in twenty miles of the place."
"Who's your witness?" asked Slim, in his most judicial tones.
"Bud Lane--me an' him rode over to the weddin' together--from the
Lazy K, an' I was put out as not fittin' to be there, an' by that
very man there that did the killin'."
The punchers had to grin, in spite of the seriousness of the
occasion. Buck appeared to be deeply hurt at the unceremonious
way he had been left out at the feast.
"What makes you point to me as the man?" asked Jack quietly.
"You was late gettin' to your own weddin'."
Fresno could not repress his feelings any longer. He started
angrily toward McKee, but Jack and Sage-brush held him back. The
others were about to follow his lead, when Slim motioned them
back with the caution: "Keep out of this, boys!"
"I was late," explained Jack, "but I told you I rode around to
the station to get a wedding-present I ordered for my wife--"
Jim interrupted him to substantiate the statement. Pointing to a
chair, he said: "That's so. There it is, too--that there
chair."
The Sweetwater outfit nodded in acquiescence, but the others
looked incredulous.
Buck sneered at the defense which Jack made. "Nobody saw you
over that way, did they?"
"I saw Terrill. It must have been just before he was killed. I
didn't meet anybody else." Jack showed no trace of temper under
the inquisition.
"Of course you saw him before he was killed--about a minute.
Mebbe you didn't plug him the next minute with a .44."
The charge roused Sage-brush's fighting blood. Drawing his gun,
he attempted to get a fair shot at the accuser. Fresno and Show
Low grabbed him by the arms, holding him back. The foreman
shouted: "There'll be some one plugged right now if you-all make
another break like that."
Slim waved his hands over his head, driving the men backward, as
if he were shooing away a flock of chickens.
"Easy now--easy," he drawled. "There ain't a-goin' to be nothin'
doin' here, 'cept law an' justice."
Buck laughed sneeringly at the wavering of his men. He would
have to do something to put more heart into them and regain the
ground he had lost by his single-handed conduct of the case.
"There ain't, eh?" he asked contemptuously. "Well, it's lucky I
brought some of my own outfit with me."
"Mebbe you'll need them if you get too careless with your talk,"
answered the unruffled Sheriff.
Turning to Jack, Slim said: "This fool thing can be settled with
one word from you."
The young ranchman listened to the Sheriff earnestly. He wished
to clear himself forever of all suspicion. He did not want Echo
ever to hear that there was a false impression abroad that she
was the wife of a slayer. "What is it?" he asked simply.
"Why, you paid off a mortgage of an even three thousan' dollars
last week, didn't you?"
"Yes, what has that to do with it?" he asked.
Buck broke in at this point. Here was the strongest card that he
had in his hand, and the Sheriff had played it to McKee's
advantage.
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