Both men bought Danny a couple of drinks without bringing up anything more than casual conversation. So Danny decided to put out a couple of feelers and see if he could stir anything up.
“You fellers being so friendly and neighborly, it sure riles me that I got to wait to pay day afore I can repay you.”
“Reckon you’d like to earn a mite more, afore then?” Stocker asked.
“I sure as hell would.”
“Look, boy,” the rancher said, dropping his voice. “I got crowded up on the Rock Pile because the big ranchers took all the good land. A fair number of my cattle stray down there. I’d pay well for any you found and brought back.”
“How’d I know which was yours?” asked Danny.
“If they’d got the Bradded S brand on ’em, they’d be mine.”
“Shucks, I’ve not seen any Bradded S stuff on our range,” Danny groaned.
“How about unbranded stuff?” the rancher inquired.
“You mean unbranded Bench J stock?”
“Under the law, Danny,” Soskice put in, “an unbranded animal is property of the man who lays his brand on it.”
“Is that the legal law?” asked Danny, wide-eyed and eager.
“It sure is,” agreed the rancher. “Hell, I bet all the ranchers have branded dozens of mine. You’ll only be helping me get my own back. It’d be justice and I’d pay you five dollars a head.”
“I’ll just bet you would,” Danny drawled, a crafty glint coming into his eyes. “I risk a rope for five dollars a head, when you’ll likely sell them for thirty. Mister, I may be——”
“Hold your voice down!” Soskice hissed. “You want money——”
“Not bad enough to risk a hemp bandana for that price.”
“You risked it when you rode the Rafter O’s bay,” Soskice pointed out, silencing Stocker’s angry growls with a wave of his hand.
“Sure, but for a damned sight more than you’re offering,” Danny answered. “I’ll sell at ten dollars a head, no less.”
“Ten doll——!” began Stocker.
“All grown beef. Got me twenty head located right now, not a brand on ’em and ready for picking.”
Suspicion glinted in Stocker’s eyes. “How the hell——”
“Shucks,” drawled Danny. “Word’s got around about the cow stealing up here. Why’d you reckon I come. I figured sooner or later I’d tie in with the right folks. Where’d you want ’em bringing?”
Stocker and Soskice looked at each other, then a grin creased the rancher’s face. “You’re a smart cuss,” he told Danny. “Brand ’em someplace and deliver ’em to Bowie Rock. Do you know it?”
“That one with a top shaped like the clipped point of a bowie knife, down by where the Talbot River flows off the Rock Pile?” asked Danny.
“That’s the one. I’ll be there from midnight until three in the morning tomorrow night. You deliver the cattle and collect your money in town.”
“Can’t say I like that idea.”
“It’s the way we do it,” Stocker growled.
“And it’s better that way, Danny,” the lawyer put in. “Safer too. If anybody sees you, you claim you found the cattle straying. They can search you and Turk and not find any money on you, so they can’t prove you aimed to sell them to him. And if your boss catches you coming in late and wants to know where you’ve been, he’ll not find you with more cash in your pockets than you should have.”
“You fellers look like you’ve got it all worked out,” Danny said admiringly.
“We sure have,” agreed the rancher. “Do you want in?”
“Deal me in,” drawled Danny, glancing to where Mousey and Calamity entered. I’ll see you all tomorrow night.”
“What do you think?” Soskice asked as Danny rose and walked to meet the two girls.
“He’s a slicker young cuss than I reckoned,” answered the rancher.
“Too slick, maybe,” said the lawyer. “Of course, the ones who think they’re the smartest always fall for a girl. Watch him, Turk, and if he makes a wrong move, kill him.”
“Dutchy’d like the chance to do that,” the rancher replied.
Danny managed to get Calamity alone long enough to tell her of his progress, then he left the saloon, collected his
“Like to see you, boss,” he said when Jerome answered his knock on the front door. “Can you take a walk down to the corral with me?”
One look at Danny’s face told the rancher that something serious was afoot. So, without asking any questions, Jerome stepped out of his house and walked toward the corral at Danny’s side. Jerome did not know what to expect. It could be that the youngster had found some serious disease among the stock and wanted his boss to hear of it in privacy. There might be any of a dozen other reasons for the request. Never would Jerome have guessed the real reason for Danny’s visit; and when he heard, he could hardly believe his ears.
“I want to steal some of your cattle,” Danny remarked casually.
While noted for his skill as a poker player, Jerome could not help coming to a halt and staring at Danny.
“Reckon you’d best take that again—slow, Danny.”
Reaching into the concealed pocket built into his gunbelt, Danny extracted his badge and held it so Jerome could see the star in the circle. “I’m a Ranger in Captain Murat’s company and was sent up here to bust up the cow stealing.”
“Well, I swan!” swore the rancher. “You sure as hell had me fooled.”
“And a few other folks—I hope,” drawled Danny and went on to tell the rancher of his activities, including the offer he received. “I want proof enough to take the whole danged bunch into court, boss.”
“Then we’ll jump ’em when they take the cattle,” Jerome suggested.
“It wouldn’t do any good. They’ll just claim they know nothing and it’s two men’s word against mine. I figure to learn where they hide the stock, who they sell to and bring in the whole danged bunch.”
“We’ll play it your way. Say, can I let Ed in on this?”
“Sure,” Danny confirmed. “I’ll need help to handle the stuff, too.”
“Don’t reckon me or Ed’d do for that,” grinned the rancher.
“Or me. Can’t see them being dumb enough to buy a rancher or his
“Tommy?”
“Sure. He’s got a good head and he’s steady enough where Mousey’s not involved. If you’ve still got those two running irons we found by Sammy and Pike, I could use them, too.”
“I’ll see to it,” Jerome promised. “And anything else you may need.”
The rancher proved to be as good as his word. Next morning Danny, Tommy and Lyle rode out on what appeared to be an ordinary routine ranch chore, except that the two younger members of the party each carried a running iron hidden under his saddle-skirts.
During the ride Tommy listened with awe and admiration as Danny told what he knew about the cow stealing. Although Tommy had a cowhand’s disrespect for local law enforcement officers, he regarded the Texas Rangers as being something real special and his admiration for Danny grew rather than lessened on learning the other belonged to that famous body of men. Eagerly Tommy agreed to help Danny and listened carefully to his instructions.
Being older, Lyle hid his feelings and merely remarked that he had figured all along that there was more to Danny than met the eye. With his knowledge of the range, Lyle took the others to where groups of cattle grazed. Scanning the animals, Danny’s party picked out and cut any unbranded grown beef they saw, hazing it ahead of them until they drove twenty head before their horses.
“We’d best play this the right way,” Danny remarked. “Let’s use that hollow where the boys were killed to do the branding.”
“Sure,” the foreman agreed. “I sure as hell never figured I’d be using a running iron on the boss’s
