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"We'll say Struve drops in on him and threatens to squeak. Mebbe

he has got evidence; mebbe he hasn't. Anyhow, our big duck wants

to forget the time he was wearing a mask and bending a six-gun

for a living. Also and moreover, he's right anxious to have other

folks get a chance to forget. From what I can hear he's clean

mashed on some girl at Amarillo, or maybe it's Fort Lincoln. See

what a twist Strove's got on him if he can slip into the Mal Pais

country on the q. t."

"And you're going up there to look out for him?"

"I'm going in to take a casual look around. There's no telling

what a man might happen onto accidentally if he travels with his

ear to the ground."

The other nodded. He could now understand easily why Fraser was

going into the Mal Pais country, but he could not make out why

the ranger, naturally a man who lived under his own hat and kept

his own counsel, had told him so much as he had. The officer

shortly relieved his mind on this point.