INFORMATION WANTED
Two-Spot rested on the broom. "Wonder what happened to Nelson?" he
queried. "Ain't seen since you went on th' prod yesterday."
Dave held up the glass he was polishing and looked at it. "What you
mean, on th' prod?"
"When you chased me, at noon."
Dave picked up another glass, breathed on it and rubbed it vigorously.
"He stuck his head in th' door an' said he was goin' to Juniper. Ain't
he got back yet?"
"Don't know," grunted Two-Spot, going to work again.
"Ain't his hoss back?"
"Don't know." He listened. "Mebby this is him, now, comin' up th'
trail." He looked out and shook his head. "Nope, it's only that d--d
pill-roller from the flats. What's _he_ comin' here for? He's got more
liquor in his shack than we've got. I don't like no man that swizzles
it secret. As I was sayin', it ain't every--why, hello, Doc! What
brings you up here so early in th' mornin'?"
"My horse," grunted the Doc, passing him without a glance. "Hello,
Dave! How are things?"
"Smoother'n h--l, as th' old lady said when she slipped on th' ice.
What'll yours be?"
"Cigar apiece," said the Doc; "for you an' me," he amended.
Two-Spot turned back and resumed his sweeping.
"Dave, I was kidnapped last night," said the Doc, bluntly. Waiting
for Dave to get his expression part way back to normal, he told the
story. Dave's expression was under control again and bespoke surprise
and sympathy, gradually assuming a stern, uncompromising aspect at the
thought of such a grave breach of law and order. Two-Spot, after the
first shock, did not dare to look around, for his grin was unholy and
altogether too sincere for his health, should the victim of the unheard
of atrocity see it. _Swish! Swish!_ went the broom; _he! he!_ went his
throat, low and in time with the sweeping. Doc finished and hammered
the bar with his fist. "It's a d--d outrage!" he declared, with heat.
Dave nodded emphatically. "It shore is! Do you know who did it?"
"No; if I did I'd be on his trail."
"See anythin' that might identify th' coyote?"
"Perhaps; I'll know more about it before the day is over," answered the
Doc. "Big Tom has some of his men out now looking for tracks on the
Double X. Those fellows don't like me very much."
"Blast their eyes!" commented Two-Spot, sweeping with renewed vigor.
Doc glanced at him, frowned, and went on. "Some things lead me to
think one way; other things, other ways. It's complicated by Squint's
disappearance."
Two-Spot assimulated the second shock with avidity. He was beginning
to be glad that he was alive, and his brain was putting two and two
together at top speed. His ears fairly ached for more, and he waited
for the third. When there were two, there should always be a third, he
hopefully assured himself.
Dave's face showed real surprise again and then marched to orders and
revealed his sympathy and disapprobation. "Why, there won't be nobody
safe!" he exclaimed. "Do you mean he's missin'?"
"He is. Have you seen him since the night they were all here?"
"No; I ain't."
"Sorrers an' calamities never come singly," said Two-Spot,
energetically digging a match stick out of a crack.
"Mebby it was Squint," suggested Dave, "as captured you."
"Well, the evidence points that way, but it isn't reasonable," replied
the Doc, going to a chair and sitting down. "Squint wasn't the sort of
a man who would go out of his way to do anyone a favor, especially if
it was for someone he did not like; and most especially if it involved
a large element of risk. But this man had on Squint's slicker, rode
Squint's horse and saddle, and even had Squint's gloves and gun."
"He must 'a' et Squint," suggested Two-Spot, spitting violently at the
thought.
"Shut up, you!" said Dave, sternly. "But, Doc, he was shore petrified
when he left here; an' what he had in his person would stay with him
for a long time. He allus was economical in his drunks: he made 'em
last quite a spell. Now, when a man's full of liquor he'll likely do
anythin'--no tellin' what."
"This man was not drunk," asserted the Doc in his best professional
manner, "and he had not been drunk for over a week. His hand was as
steady as mine, and he did not make a single false move. I'm sure it
was not Squint; Big Tom cannot make up his mind; Wolf Forbes swears it
was, but Wolf was no friend of his, as we all know. Some of the boys
suggested the Double X, knowing the strong dislike some of that litter
has for me. Three of the boys are over there now lookin' for tracks."
"What good will that do 'em?" demanded Dave. "A man has a right to make
tracks on his own ranch, an' they're allus ridin' around over it. But,
then, if they found tracks leadin' from th' Double X to yore place, or
from th' Juniper trail to th' Double X, why, then you'd have somethin'."
"There are none of the first category," replied the Doc, "and there
will be none of the second: I told you that this man rode Squint's
horse, and any tracks on the Juniper trail could have been made while
we rode over it together. We can't find where he got onto the horse, or
where he got off of it; but it must have been in the river somewhere.
He was a fiend for riding on rock--he knew this country like a book.
We've tried trailing, but it got us nowhere. So, Dave, I rode up here
to ask you a plain question: Who were in here last night between a
quarter of nine and, say, a quarter after ten? You may save some
innocent person from a lot of trouble."
"Well," said Dave, pursing his lips. "Th' poker gang was here. Two-Spot
an' I was here. Jerry Poole came in to set his watch--that was just at
nine-twenty. Nelson poked his head in th' door about ten minutes after
Jerry, wriggled his fingers at me, cuss his impudence, an' disappeared.
Where he went I don't know. I guess that's all."
Two-Spot gripped the broom convulsively and then slowly relaxed.
The third shock had arrived. The problems of his sorely taxed brain
were jammed by the sudden arrival of more. Never before had he heard
Dave deliberately lie; and here the proprietor was lying coolly and
perfectly, with trimmings to make it stick. In turn surprise, wonder,
and satisfaction swept across his boiled countenance like driven clouds
across the coppery sun. He gradually worked closer to the Doc and soon
his stroke became longer and harder. When he began trying to sweep a
tobacco stain out of the flooring the Doc suddenly leaped from his
chair.
"What--the h--l do--you think--you're doing?" he coughed.
"Huh?" said Two-Spot, looking up.
"What do you mean, sweeping like that, over here?"
"I was only sweepin' where th' dirt was," answered Two-Spot.
The Doc regarded him keenly. "Oh, is that it? Well, hunt for it
somewhere else, or I'll kick you through the window!"
Two-Spot flared up. "You got my permission----"
"Shut up!" snapped Dave. "Now, Doc, as I was sayin'--what'n h--l _was_
I sayin'? Well, anyhow, I said it," he asserted, belligerently. "What
you aimin' to do now?"
"Dance on th' quicksands, I hope," grunted Two-Spot, savagely. Then he
listened, and said: "Here comes Nelson on that fine little hoss." Under
his breath he muttered, "I bet he'll be surprised to find out he was in
here at nine-thirty, last night." He straightened up. "Huh! Mebby he
won't. Mebby he fixed it with Dave. Well, if he's wise, he'll tip me
off next time--I might tell th' truth, an' make a lot of trouble, if I
didn't know."
Johnny walked in. "Hello, Ol' Timer!" he said, jabbing Two-Spot in the
ribs.
Two-Spot grasped the broom handle firmly. "Hello, yoreself! An' you
lookout who yo're punchin'," he grinned. "Squint's dead," he said,
mournfully.
"What?"
"Oh, well; he's missin', anyhow," amended Two-Spot.
"Missin' what?" asked Johnny.
"Missin' himself!"
"Then he's drunker than I thought," replied Johnny. "I never heard of
nobody bein' so far gone in liquor that they missed themselves."
"Oh, you go to th' devil!" snorted Two-Spot, turning around so he could
snicker in safety.
Johnny glanced casually at the Doc, walked up to the bar and bought a
cigar, which he lit with scrupulous care.
"Meet th' Doc, Nelson," said Dave.
Johnny turned. "Glad to meet you, Doctor. I've heard of you, an' passed
yore place."
"Saw you," replied the Doc, "and I coveted that black mare."
"Nice little cayuse," admitted Johnny.
"The Doc was kidnapped," said Dave, watching closely.
"That so?" replied Johnny, politely. "An' how old was you, Doctor?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why, when you was kidnapped," Johnny explained.
"I was kidnapped last night," replied the Doc.
"You--last night?" demanded Johnny, incredulously. "Well, I'm d--d!
What did they get?"
"They got me."
"I mean, what did they get that was valuable?" persisted Johnny.
Two-Spot turned away again and missed the floor twice.
"They stole th' Doc," explained Dave. "They was takin' him away just
about th' time you looked in at me. They took him over to th' SV, to
set Ol' Arnold's busted laig."
"What you talkin' about?" snorted Johnny, seating himself across from
the Doc. "I never heard of a doctor bein' kidnapped to set a busted
laig. What am I supposed to say? I'll bite, if it does cost me th'
drinks."
"No, Nelson, that's the truth," earnestly asserted the Doc, and he told
the story over again.
"You say he was on Squint's cayuse, wearin' Squint's slicker, an' usin'
Squint's gun?" asked Johnny. "Then where was Squint? A man don't just
drop things like that without knowin' it. What was that Two-Spot was
tryin' to tell me?"
The Doc explained the matter and finished by saying that he felt sure
that it had not been the missing puncher who had visited him.
"I don't think so, neither," asserted Johnny. "He'd be a fool to go
like that. No, sir, I'll bet it wasn't Squint--but, wait a minute! If
he counted on leavin' th' country right after, why, he might a' done
it, at that. If it wasn't Squint, then where was he?"
"Sleepin' off his liquor," said Dave. "Why, that's it! While he slept
somebody took his outfit an' kidnapped th' Doc. H--l, it may all be a
joke!"
"You wouldn't think so if you observed that man as I did," replied the
Doc. "He was in deadly earnest. I could _feel_ it."
"Well, there's two ways to start at it," said Johnny, ordering drinks
all around, including Two-Spot. "He had a grudge ag'in' you, an' he was
extra friendly to th' SV. Run back in yore mem'ry for somebody that
hates you enough to want to get square. If that don't work, then hunt
for th' feller that likes th' SV. Anybody 'round here that's sweet on
that Arnold gal, that you knows of?"
"No; not that we know of," answered the Doc. "Big Tom was the last one
who called there; but he quit, quite some time ago."
"Got throwed so hard he still aches," gloated Two-Spot.
"Well, I can't help you," said Johnny. "I don't know anythin' about
th' people around here. An', bein' a stranger, an' likely to be
suspected of any orphaned devilment, I'm shore glad I looked in here,
last night. But I ain't worryin' about Squint," he deprecated. "He's
an old hand at takin' care of hisself, if I'm any judge. He'll turn up
with a headache, an' yell fit to bust for his saddle, an' gun."
"I hope so," said Dave. He turned to the Doc. "Did you fix up th' laig?"
"Certainly; it was a simple fracture," answered the Doc. He paused.
"Cussed if I know what to think," he growled, arising. He had observed
Johnny closely, saw that he was left-handed, found the voice not quite
what he had hoped for, and Dave's statement cinched the matter. He
nodded good-by and went out, but he looked at Johnny's saddle, where
he found silver ornaments instead of brass, and plain stirrup guards
instead of the fringed ones he had noticed the night before. Shaking
his head he mounted and rode homeward.
Two-Spot placed the broom across a table and sat down. "Dave," he said,
almost reverently, "what made you say that?"
"Say what?" demanded the proprietor, belligerently. "You hearin'
things?"
"Mebby; but I ain't _seein'_ 'em."
"What did I say that's ridin' you so hard?" demanded Dave.
"What you did about Nelson lookin' in last night."
"What was that?" asked Johnny, with pardonable curiosity.
"Why, Dave up an' tells th' Doc that you poked yore head in at that
there door at nine-thirty _last night_," explained Two-Spot.
"Well, suppose I did?" asked Johnny. "What about it?"
"Well, now," mourned Two-Spot, "if I ain't got th' cussedest mem'ry!
It's got Texas fever; a tick must a' crawled up my ear. Of course you
did; and didn't you say 'Two-Spot, when I sees you tomorrow I'll buy
you a drink?'"
"I reckon I might 'a' said somethin' like that," laughed Johnny. "She's
yourn, Ol' Timer--with a cigar to punish me for forgettin'."
Two-Spot enjoyed his drink and pulled contentedly on the cigar. Then he
turned toward the rear door. "Time for me to give George a hand. Shall
I take Pepper around out of th' sun?"
"Why, yes; an' much obliged," answered Johnny.
Dave pointed his finger and his whole arm at the broom lying across the
table. "That yourn?" he demanded.
Two-Spot looked. "I told you that my mem'ry was bad," he chuckled.
Putting the broom away where it belonged he went out and led Pepper
around to the shed.
Johnny looked hard at Dave. "That was a good turn, Dave," he said.
"What made you do it?"
Dave rumpled his hair. "Squint's missin', which means one customer
less. Bein' a stranger down here I reckoned they'd pass th' buck to
you. That meant they'd likely do it here--th' Doc come up to locate
you, I figgered. Besides losin' a lot more customers I'd have to clean
up a slaughter-house. I just made up my mind I wouldn't do it. Anyhow,
I'd like to shake hands with th' coyote that lugged th' Doc off to fix
that laig. I would so."
"Don't blame you," said Johnny, holding out his hand. "We can shake on
that, all right. I say a doctor is a doctor an' ought to go where he's
needed."
Dave looked him full in the eyes, a quizzical smile playing around his
mouth, and shook hands gravely, solemnly. It was almost a ceremony. "My
sentiments, exactly," he responded. "Wonder if Squint was hurt?"
"I'd bet he wasn't," answered Johnny. "I'd even bet he went to a
different part of th' country. Mebby he got caught in some devilment.
Punchers are great for roamin'--just look where _I_ am." He shook his
head sadly and went out through the rear door for the hotel, leaving
Dave with a grin on his face which threatened to disrupt it. He had
not gone more than a few steps when he turned and went back. Poking
his head in at the door, he said: "Dave, when I'm drinkin' in here,
an' it can be done easy, just see that mine is some watery. I like th'
delicate flavor it has that way; th' delicater, th' better."
Dave chuckled and nodded. "Yo're drinkin' it. If yo're satisfied, I am.
I can't do it at th' bar, where th' bottle passes; but it'll be easy if
yo're playin' cards."