Titzell and Denkman were silent, but Kovec talked volubly. He was scared to death and Slim took advantage of this fear. From a saddle bag he pulled the gun which Chuck had found outside Doc Baldridge’s office the night a second attempt had been made to kill the owner of the Box B.
“It belongs to Titzell. He said he lost it.”
“Shut up!” The cattle buyer roared at Kovec, but it was too late. Slim knew all that was necessary. He had all of the evidence needed to put Titzell and the Diamond Dot riders behind the bars for a long, long time.
When they reached the Box B, they found Bill Needham waiting to greet them.
“Great work, boys,” he said, as they rode up. “You’ve certainly cleared out the rustlers in the Creeping Shadows.”
“We’ve got the evidence, but you’ll have to prove the case in court against them,” said Slim.
“I’ll do that all right,” said Old Bill. “I’ve been talking with Hack Cook and he’s given me a full account under oath. Titzell’s the big gun in this whole thing. He came in when Cook was just about ready to fold up and between the two of them they figured that if they could steal enough cattle and get the Double O and the Box B fighting each other, they’d have a good chance to step in and grab both ranches cheap.”
Joe Haines came down from the ranch house. “The boss wants to see you,” he said.
“Any of the Box B or Double O boys get hurt much?” asked Slim.
“Al Bass has a flesh wound and so has another one of the Double O riders and Doug Huston’s disappeared.”
“Yeh, I should think he would,” said Chuck. “He was hand in glove with this outfit. He was the guy who roped Slim that night down at the corral and left him tied up by the creek. Doug kept the gang tipped off to everything the Box B was doing.”
“You mean almost everything,” put in Slim.
They found Adam Marks almost recovered and from him they received heartfelt thanks for their fine work.
Nels Anderson was waiting for them outside. “By gar, boys,” he roared. “Anytime you need help, just let Nels know. I’ll come a-runnin’.”
Box B and Double O riders had gone out to round up the last of the rustlers who had been guarding the main trails into the valley and the end was rapidly being written on the feud which had threatened for a time to disrupt the entire valley. There was nothing more that Slim and Chuck needed to do and after a hearty dinner at the cookhouse, where Lee Wu was once more presiding over the pots and pans, they mounted and rode down the trail toward Dirty Water. Behind them they left the shouted farewells of the Box B and Double O cowboys and a promise from Bill Needham that he would call on them again when a knotty mystery confronted him.