CHAPTER 33 There was no exuberant joy to meet this suggestion. McGuire had, as a matter of fact, made his territory practically crime-proof for so long that men had lost interest in planning adventures within the sphere of his authority. It seemed to the four men of Pollard's gang a peculiar folly to cast a challenge in the teeth of the formidable sheriff himself. Even Pollard was shaken and looked to Denver. But that worthy, who had returned from the door where he was stationed during the presence of the sheriff, remained in his place smiling down at his hands. He, for one, seemed oddly pleased. In the meantime Sandy was setting forth his second and particularly interesting news item. "You-all know Lewison?" he asked. "The sour old grouch," affirmed Phil Marvin. "Sure, we know him." "I know him, too," said Sandy. "I worked for the tenderfoot that he skinned out of the ranch. And then I worked for Lewison. If they's anything good about Lewison, you'd need a spyglass to find it, and then it wouldn't be fit to see. His wife couldn't live with him; he drove his son off and turned him into a drunk; and he's lived his life for his coin." "Which he ain't got much to show for it," remarked Marvin. "He lives like a starved dog." "And that's just why he's got the coin," said Sandy. "He lives on what would make a dog sick and his whole life he's been saving every cent he's made. He gives his wife one dress every three years till she died. That's how tight he is. But he's sure got the money. Told everybody his kid run off with all his savings. That's a lie. His kid didn't have the guts or the sense to steal even what was coming to him for the work he done for the old miser. Matter of fact, he's got enough coin saved--all gold--to break the back of a mule. That's a fact! Never did no investing, but turned everything he made into gold and put it away." "How do you know?" This from Denver. "How does a buzzard smell a dead cow?" said Sandy inelegantly. "I ain't going to tell you how I smell out the facts about money. Wouldn't be any use to you if you knew the trick. The facts is these: he sold his ranch. You know that?" "Sure, we know that." "And you know he wouldn't take nothing but gold coin paid down at the house?" "That so?" "It sure is! Now the point's this. He had all his gold in his own private safe at home." Denver groaned.