“What’s this?” Ella snapped as she opened the wallet and stared at its denuded interior. “It’s empty!”
“Empty!” said Calamity, Phyl and Maisie; Calamity in well simulated surprise, Phyl in a startled tone, and Maisie with a mocking glance at the red-headed boss girl.
“All right, Marty!” Ella hissed. “Strip off!”
“Huh!” Calamity gasped.
“Come on, you know what the boss means!” Maisie snapped, delighted to have scored on Phyl, for the red-head was the one who took the new girl to see Ella.
“All right, don’t get mean!” Calamity yelped. “So search me! How was I to know it was empty? I couldn’t look in it with him watching, and I’d be crazy to try lifting the cash then bringing an empty wallet.”
“She’s got a good point there, boss,” Phyl put in.
“Or maybe she’s just smart,” sniffed Maisie. “Peel off, girlie, or I’ll do it the hard way.”
Normally such a threat would have been met eagerly by Calamity, but she held down her desire to jump the buxom brunette and hand her a licking. Giving a shrug, Calamity peeled off the dress and stood clad in a combined chemise and drawers outfit, stockings and shoes—and with the Remington Double Derringer, borrowed from Captain Murat, in a garter holster. Calamity had hoped to keep her armament hidden from the other saloon-girl’s eyes but knew her secret was out. All three women looked at the gun, yet none seemed concerned by it.
“You don’t need that here,” Ella remarked, nodding to the Derringer.
“I wouldn’t reckon you’d have any virtue to defend,” Maisie went on, giving Calamity’s dress a thorough search. “I’ll do that.”
The last came as Phyl started to examine the rest of Calamity’s clothing as it was removed. An angry red flush crept to Phyl’s face at the words.
“Don’t you trust me?” she hissed and made no attempt to put down the garments she held.
“Check the Derringer’s got nothing but bullets in it, Maisie,” Ella interrupted. “Phyl, go ahead with the underwear.”
While she encouraged the rivalry between her two boss girls, Ella had no intention of allowing them to decide once and for all who had the higher social standing by means of a fight. Knowing that hell had no fury like an annoyed or humiliated woman, Ella preferred to let them simmer than have one embittered by defeat and maybe looking for revenge by talking of the saloon’s other business to interested parties.
“Nothing,” Ella said after the check. “No hard feelings, Marty, but you know how it is.”
“Sure, boss. I’m sorry I didn’t do better. Why’d you think he had something in his wallet?”
“Just a hunch. It looks like he either changed places, or let Eddie hold the money when they went out back. Young Stan’s smarter than I thought. Go back out front and do some work, Marty.”
After Calamity left the office, Maisie scowled at Phyl and asked, “Do you reckon she could have hid the money outside before she came in?”
“And bring in the empty wallet?” scoffed Phyl. “She’d need to be real dumb to even think about it. Anyway, we heard those cowhands ride by just before she came in. Stan must have changed the money while he was outside, like the boss said.”
“Sure. I think Marty’ll work out right for us,” Ella stated. “Let’s get out and see if there’s anything happening.”
“We lost some money,” Maisie pointed out.
“I lost some,” Ella corrected. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it back later.”
Out in the bar room Calamity joined Mousey and found the little girl bubbling with curiosity about the reason for the visit to Ella’s office.
“It wasn’t much,” Calamity answered. “The boss just wanted to know if I’d settled in all right.”
“Oh! I thought you might have been in trouble. Did you see Stan and Eddie off?”
“Yep,” Calamity smiled. “I reckon I did.” Then a thought struck her. “Say, when do I get to meet this Tommy of yours?”
“He’ll maybe come in tomorrow,” Mousey replied. “Hey, if he brings Danny Forgrave in, maybe you and him can make up a foursome with us. You’ll like Danny, he’s a real nice boy.”
Thinking of the night in the Jones cabin beyond Austin, Calamity smiled. “I reckon I might at that.”
She figured Danny would take the opportunity to come to town with Tommy and that ought to give them a chance to get together and discuss what they each had learned so far.
Chapter 11 MISS CANARY INVOLVES MR. FOG
DANNY FOG COULD NOT TRUTHFULLY ADMIT TO making any progress in the few days spent on the Caspar County ranges. Even with his findings of the first day, he might have been no more than an ordinary drifting cowboy who stopped off at the Bench J for work, for he knew little more about the cow stealing than when he arrived.
Clearly Ed Lyle regarded Danny as being all right when the foreman returned from tracking the remaining cow thief, then back-trailing Danny to establish that the young man had told the truth about coming from Austin City way. The foreman could find no sign that Danny had come from any other direction and so was prepared to treat him as he would any other hand. As to the other matter, Lyle told Danny that the cow thief’s tracks disappeared on to the Rock Pile, a large, barren rocky area on the edge of the county and over which following tracks was impossible.
During the next few days Danny rode the ranges and performed the routine work of a cowhand. His skilled use of the borrowed cutting-horse when working cattle lulled any remaining suspicions the foreman might have held, for a cutting-horse was a specialist animal and the fact that Danny possessed one tended to make his pose as a drifting cowhand more acceptable. Mostly Danny worked with Tommy and from the youngster learned much about the affairs of the county. Tommy told Danny how, soon after the stealing became noticeable, Turk Stocker had the other ranchers search his spread on the Rock Pile but they found only his runty, poorly-fed stock on it. So they concluded that the cow thieves ran their stolen animals on to the Rock Pile to make tracking impossible, then could go in any direction to wherever they sold their loot. While Tommy admitted he did not care for Soskice, he said the lawyer had his uses when the sheriff picked up one of the boys. Simmonds appeared to be regarded as a harmless nuisance hired by the town to keep cowhand horse-play in bounds. Of Sammy and Pike’s behavior before their deaths, Tommy said little. It appeared that Sammy found his “love” for Dora came real expensive, far more so than a cowhand could afford and that Pike, like the good friend he was, did what he could to further his amigo’s romance. Only small things came out of Danny’s talks with Tommy, yet they helped him build up a better picture of the situation in Caspar County.
When the story of how Danny stood up to the deputy and Ed Wren made the rounds, and of how he rode the Rafter O’s bay reached the ears of the other hands, he found himself regarded as being quite a feller. The feeling pleased him, for this time he had made the grade without anybody thinking of him as Dusty Fog’s kid brother and treating him to secondhand respect on that relationship.
However, when Saturday arrived, little had been done to either prevent the cow stealing or find the folks behind it. No further losses had been discovered and none of the crew went out at night to do the necessary riding needed to locate brand and deliver the stolen animals.
“Are you coming into town tonight, Danny?” Tommy asked as they rode toward the Bench J’s main buildings on Saturday afternoon.
“Reckon so. I’ve some money just itching to be spent. Are you fixing to see your gal tonight?”