Du Sang looked at him closely as he went on: "What kind of a way is this to treat anybody? To ride into a valley like this and drive a man's cows away from his door without notice or papers? Is your name Smith?"
"My name is Smith; yours is Du Sang. Yes, I'll tell you, Du Sang. I carry an inspector's card from the Mountain Stock Association--do you want to see it? When we get these cattle to the Door, any man in the Cache may come forward and prove his property. I shall leave instructions to that effect when we go, for I want you to go to Medicine Bend with me, Du Sang, as soon as convenient, and the men that are with me will finish the round-up."
"What do you want me for? There's no papers out against me, is there?"
"No, but I'm an officer, Du Sang. I'll see to the papers; I want you for murder."
"So they tell me. Well, you're after the wrong man. But I'll go with you; I don't care about that."
"Neither do I, Du Sang; and as you have some friends along, I won't break up the party. They may come, too."
"For stopping a train at Tower W Saturday night."
The three men looked at one another and laughed.
Du Sang with an oath spoke again: "The men you want are in Canada by this time. I can't speak for my friends; I don't know whether they want to go or not. As far as I am concerned, I haven't killed anybody that I know of. I suppose you'll pay my expenses back?"
"Why, yes, Du Sang, if you were coming back I would pay your expenses; but you are not coming back. You are riding down Williams Cache for the last time; you've ridden down it too many times already. This round-up is especially for you. Don't deceive yourself; when you ride with me this time out of the Cache, you won't come back."
Du Sang laughed, but his blinking eyes were as steady as a cat's. It did not escape Whispering Smith's notice that the mettlesome horses ridden by the outlaws were continually working around to the right of his party. He spoke amiably to Karg: "If you can't manage that horse, Karg, I can. Play fair. It looks to me as if you and Du Sang were getting ready to run for it, and leave George Seagrue to shoot his way through alone."
Du Sang, with some annoyance, intervened: "That's all right; I'll go with you. I'd rather see your papers, but if you're Whispering Smith it's all right. I'm due to shoot out a little game sometime with you at Medicine Bend, anyway."