said the agent. "I guess you have the dope. I won't say
anything except that I'm glad as hell to be out of the rotten business
at last. Once started I couldn't stop. I did one 'favour' for these
devils, and after that they had me in their power. I haven't slept for
months as I'm going to sleep tonight!"

He wiped his face with an agitated hand.

"A week ago," he went on, "I knew you were detailed on this work. I've
been sweating ever since. Now that you've come--why, I'm glad of it!"

A faint sneer touched Calder's mouth and was gone.

"You're a wise man," he said. "Have you seen much of Jim Silent
lately?"

Hardy hesitated. The role of informer was new.

"Not directly."

Calder nodded.

"Now put me right if I go off the track. The way I understand it, Jim
Silent has about twenty gun fighters and long riders working in gangs
under him and combining for big jobs."

"That's about it."

"The inside circle consists of Silent; Lee Haines, a man who went
wrong because the law did _him_ wrong; Hal Purvis, a cunning devil;
and Bill Kilduff, a born fighter who loves blood for its own sake."

"Right."

"Here's something more. For Jim Silent, dead or alive, the government
will pay ten thousand dollars. For each of the other three it pays
five thousand. The notices aren't out yet, but they will be in a few
days. Hardy, if you help me bag these men, you'll get fifty per cent
of the profits. Are you on?"

The hesitancy of Hardy changed to downright enthusiasm.

"Easy money, Tex. I'm your man, hand and glove."

"Don't get optimistic. This game isn't played yet, and unless I make
the biggest mistake of my life we'll be guessing again before we land
Silent. I've trailed some fast gunmen in my day, and I have an idea
that Silent will be the hardest of the lot; but if you play your end
of the game we may land him. I have a tip that he's lying out in the
country near Elkhead. I'm riding out alone to get track of him. As I
go out I'll tell my men that you're O.K. for this business."

He hesitated a moment with his hand on the door knob.

"Just one thing more, Hardy. I heard a queer tale this morning about
a fight in a saloon run by a man named Morgan. Do you know anything
about it?"

"No."

"I was told of a fellow who chipped four dollars thrown into the air
at twenty yards."

"That's a lie."

"The man who talked to me had a nicked dollar to prove his yarn."

"The devil he did!"

"And after the shooting this