"I'm liable to tell him a whole lot," the detective answered with heavy
irony. "I'm figurin' on runnin' down this murderer myself if any one
asks you."

"Wish you luck," Kirby said with perfect gravity.

CHAPTER XXXVI

A RIDE IN A TAXI

Kirby was quite right when he said that Hull would go with them. He
was on his way downtown when the taxi caught him at Fourteenth and
Welton. The cattleman jumped out from the machine and touched the fat
man on the arm as he was waddling past.

"We want you, Hull," he said.

A shadow of fear flitted over the shallow eyes of the land agent, but
he attempted at once to bluster. "Who wants me? Whadjawant me for?"

"I want you--in that cab. The man who saw you in my uncle's room the
night he was killed is with me. You can either come with us now an'
talk this thing over quietly or I'll hang on to you an' call for a
policeman. It's up to you. Either way is agreeable to me."

Beads of perspiration broke out on the fat man's forehead. He dragged
from his left hip pocket the familiar bandanna handkerchief. With it
he dabbed softly at his mottled face. There was a faint, a very faint,
note of defiance in his voice as he answered.

"I dunno as I've got any call to go with you. I wasn't in Cunningham's
rooms. You can't touch me--can't prove a thing on me."

"It won't cost you anything to make sure of that," Kirby suggested in
his low, even tones. "I'm payin' for the ride."

"If you got anything to say to me, right here's a good place to onload
it."

The man's will was wobbling. The cattleman could see that.

"Can't talk here, with a hundred people passin'. What's the matter,
man? What are you afraid of? _We're not goin' to hit you over the
head with the butt of a six-shooter_."

Hull flung at him a look of startled terror. What did he mean? Or was
there anything significant in the last sentence? Was it just a shot in
the dark?

"I'll go on back to the Paradox. If you want to see me, why, there's
as good a place as any."

"We're choosin' the place, Hull, not you. You'll either step into that
cab or into a patrol wagon."

Their eyes met and fought. The shallow, protuberant ones wavered.
"Oh, well, it ain't worth chewin' the rag over. I reckon I'll go with
you."

He stepped into the cab. At sight of Olson he showed both dismay and
surprise. He had heard of the threats the Dry Valley man had been
making. Was he starting on a journey the end o