'My haree's Edward Clancy,' the bewhiskered man said, offering Jamie a
hand.
'I'm the editor of the Wiltshire Sun.'
Jamie nearly betrayed his surprise. He kept a firm smile plastered to
his face.
'The Sun, huh? The newspaper?' 'The gossip rag,' the man said flatly.
'That's all I dare print, and I'm careful about that. Oh, well, I write
up some articles about President Grant and about the Indians. But not
much else.'
'Why?'
''Cause I like living,' Edward Clancy said flatly.
'We're playing poker. You in?'
Jamie pushed back his hair and reached into his pocket for money.
'Sure, I'm in. I like to gamble.'
'Then you're in the right town, mister. You're surely in the right towm
What's your name?'
'Jamie. Jamie Slater.'
Clancy smiled slowly.
'I've heard of you. You're one of the Slater brothers. Why, I heard that
you can hit a fly in the clouds with that ' Rumor,' Jamie interrupted
him.
'Rumor, that's something I'd just as soon keep quiet for the time
being.'
'It's quiet. It's quiet.' Clancy stared at him hard, then grinned again.
'That's Dec Martin. He was one of Joe Stuart's best friends. We'll keep
things quiet. Whatever you say.'
'Thanks.'
'We'll help you any way that we can,' Dec volunteered. 'Information is
what I need now,' Jamie said, leaning closer.
'Why does this yon Heusen want the Stuart property so damn bad?'
'You know, we haven't figured that one out yet. We just haven't figured
it out. But he does want it badly.'
'Badly enough to kill?'
'Hell, yes, I think so. Why, if the Indians hadn't gotten old Joe ...'
His voice trailed away as he stared at Jamie.
'It wasn't a tribe of Indians that came after him, was it?'
'Not according to Tess.'
'Tess! She's alive!'
Jamie nodded. The look of pure, unadulterated joy on the man's face was
somewhat irritating. The sun-honey blond seemed to be a golden angel
around these parts. Edward Clancy leaned so far across the table that he
was nearly on top of it. His voice was soft; his features were knotted
up and tense.
'If Tess says it was von Heusen, it was von Heusen all right. Are
you--are you going to stay around and fight him?'
'Yeah. Yeah, I guess so.'
He didn't guess so. He was committed, and he knew it. He had been
committed since he'd first seen Tess's face.
He just hadn't known it right away.
'Hell! Don't look now,' Dec muttered suddenly. 'What?' Jamie demanded.
