I'd get a good look
into his face then, an' he's no more a fool than you or I. He's damned
smart lookin'. An' the books he had laid out on the table wasn't books
a fool would be readin'. He was careful to hide 'em away when he
rolled in--an' he cleaned his fingernails with a white handled dingus,
an' brushed his teeth, an' put the tools back in a black leather case
that had silver trimmin's. Believe me, there's somethin' comin' off
here between now an' summer, an' I'm goin' to ask for the detail!"
Murchison laughed. "Come on back, Downey, and you'll see the fun. An'
I ain't so sure you won't be needed in your official capacity. But
don't bother your head over Sven Larson. Remember this: it takes a
smart man to play the fool, an' play it right. That's why John McNabb
sent him up here. An' his name ain't Larson; it's Hedin. He's John's
right-hand man--an' if I mistake not someday he'll be his son-in-law."
"Oh, I'll be back all right," grinned Downey. "I've got a hunch that
maybe I'll be needed."
"Ye wouldn't be sorry to have to arrest Wentworth for some kind of
thievery, would ye, Downey? I could see ye distrusted him from the
moment ye laid eyes on him."
"U-m-m-m," answered Downey. "I was thinkin' more of, maybe, bringin'
in Alex Thumb--for murder."
A week later Murchison accompanied Wentworth upon a ten-day trip,
during the course of which they visited the proposed mill site, the
McNabb holdings, and a great part of the available pulp-wood territory
adjoining.
Pages:
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66