The men Dale had sent to Tucson had not required the full two weeks for
the trip; they had made it in ten days, and their faces, as they sat
before Dale in the office, showed the effects of their haste. Yet they
grinned at Dale as they talked, glowing with pride over their
achievement, but the word they brought to Dale did not please him, and
he sat glaring at them until they finished.
"Gary Miller ain't been heard of for a month, eh?" he said. "You say
you heard he started this way? Then where in hell is he?"
Neither of the men could answer that question and Dale dismissed them.
Then he walked to a door, opened it, and called to someone in another
room. Dave Silverthorn entered the office, and for more than an hour
the two talked, their conversation being punctuated with futile queries
and profanity.
At ten o'clock the next morning Dale appeared at the Double A
ranchhouse. Apparently he was willing to forgive and forget, for he
grinned at Owen, who was watching him from the door of the bunkhouse,
and he politely doffed his hat to Mary Bransford, who met him at the
door of the ranchhouse.
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