serene. He was leaning confidentially across the counter, and his eyes
met Bill's in a look that made the trader turn away.

"You know," said Lowell, "it's quite possible that money and valuables
were taken from Sargent's body. To be sure, they found his checkbook and
papers, but they wouldn't be of use to anyone else. A man of Sargent's
wealth must have had considerable ready cash with him, and yet none was
found. He would hardly be likely to start out on a long trip across
country without a watch, and yet nothing of the sort was discovered.
That's why I thought that if any Indians came in here with large amounts
of money, or if they tried to pawn valuables which might have belonged
to a man in Sargent's position, you could help clear up matters."

Hatred and suspicion were mingled in Talpers's look. The trader had
spent most of his hours, since his return from Morgan's ranch, cursing
the folly that had led him into wearing Sargent's watch. And now came
this young Indian agent, with talk about thousand-dollar bills. There
was another mistake Bill had made. He should have taken those bills far
away and had them exchanged for money of smaller denomination. But he
had been hard-pressed for cash, and suspicion seemed to point in such
convincing fashion toward Fire Bear and the other Indians that it did
not seem possible that it could be shifted elsewhere. Yet all his
confidence had been shaken when Helen Ervin had calmly and correctly
recounted to him the exact things that he had taken from that body on
the hill. Probably she had been talking to the agent and had told him
all she knew.

"I know what you're drivin' at," snarled Bill, his rage getting the
better of his judgment. "You've been talkin' to that girl at Morgan's
ranch, and she's been tellin' you all she thinks she knows. But she'd
better go slow with all her talk about valuables and thousand-dollar
bills. She forgets that she's as deep in this thing as anybody and I've
got the document to prove it."

The surprise in the Indian agent's face was too genuine to be mistaken.
Talpers realized that he had been betrayed into overshooting his mark.
The agent had been engaged in a little game of bluff, and Talpers had
fallen into his trap.

"All this is mighty interesting to me, Bill," said Lowell, regaining his
composure. "I just dropped in here, hoping for a little general
cooperation on your part, and here I find that you know a lot more than
anybody imagined."