truck me as likely. You know there's not a rancher in the district
who would hurt the man. He was easy to get on with."

"Did you know that he borrowed money on his holding and took it with him
the night he disappeared?"

"I didn't," said Wandle, starting. "I'm not pleased to hear it now. I've
a claim on the place and there are some pretty big storekeepers' bills to
come in."

Curtis asked a few more questions before he took his leave. He passed
near the ash pail as he went out and Stanton touched it with his foot,
but they had mounted and reached the trail before either of them spoke.

"Well?" said Curtis.

Stanton smiled.

"Nothing much to be learned from him; the fellow's about as sly and hard
to get at as a coyote."

"A sure thing," Curtis agreed. "We'll keep an eye on him; I've a
suspicion he knows something."

Then they trotted away in the moonlight, for it was a long ride to their
camp beside the muskeg, which with the assistance of several men they
were engaged in searching.

On the next afternoon, Prescott was at work in the summer fallow, sitting
in the iron saddle of a gangplow, which four powerful horses hauled
through the crackling stubble. It was fiercely hot and he was lightly
clad in thin yellow shirt and overalls. A cloud of dust rose about him
from the parched soil, and the broad expanse of wheat which the fallow
divided glowed with varied colors as it rippled before the rush of
breeze, the strong greens changing to a silvery luster as the lush blades
bent and caught the light. Farther on, there were faint streaks of yellow
among the oats; the great stretch of grass was white and delicate gray,
the rows of clods behind the plow rich chocolate-brown.

Prescott, however, paid little attention to his surroundings. He was
perhaps the only man in the district who had known Jernyngham intimately;
he felt troubled about his disappearance, and he had had a disturbing
interview with Wandle during the morning. The Austrian had contested his
right to manage the farm, declaring that Jernyngham owed him money and
had made certain plans for the joint working of their land which must be
carried out. This did not so much matter, in a sense, if one could take
Jernyngham's death for granted; but Prescott could not do so and had,
moreover, no intention of letting his property fall into the hands of a
cunning, grasping fellow, who, he was fully persuaded, had no real right
to it. If Jernyngham did not turn up,