He left the room while Buck and Hopalong eyed each other helplessly. "D—d if he ain’t tellin’ me what kind of a wife I ’ve got," complained Hopalong. Mary came in, followed by Whitby. "Now if you two boys ’ll only listen to Whitby, you ’ll learn somethin’," promised Mary. "It began in Chicago," said Whitby. "Beastly hole, Chicago. I was n’t at all sorry to leave it, except—but that’s neither here nor there. McAllister is a friend of mine and he rather thought Buck under-rated the difficulties here; so he asked me to run out and look it over. I soon found it was jolly well too big for me so I wrote to the Governor—my father, at home you know—and he said he ’d foot the bills. So I put it in the hands of a detective agency; very thorough people, ’pon my word. They tell me this German chap is at the bottom of the mischief but they can’t prove it. He is always behind somebody else. If Ned Monroe had not been honest and given up, McAllister would never have won his case in that court: Schatz owns the judge, so they tell me. Amazin’ country, is n’t it? And then he is far too clever to wage a losing fight: you would have won at the last, despite his efforts. Now he ’s come with his offer of partnership. Clever idea, really. He ’ll jolly well use you if he can’t beat you; and no doubt he expects to trick you, Buck, in some way, perhaps lending you money—then, you out of it, he has McAllister at a disadvantage. "My idea is this: take Schatz in as a partner and he ’ll grow less careful. We shall be able to trip him up. Remarkable man, really. Not one of those he employs can be made to talk; they ’re entirely loyal. But sooner or later he will make a mistake: rogues all do, even the cleverest of them; and if they continue to escape, it is merely because no one happened to be watching and catch them at it. I ’ll lend you the money, Buck—" "But what in—what do I need money for, Whit? Ain’t th’ range an’ th’ cattle enough?" "Of course they are. But the German wants to see some cash capital and it will do no harm to give him plenty of rope, will it now?" "But, Whit," objected Hopalong, "if yo ’re shore it’s th’ Dutchman, we can drive him out of th’ country so quick he ’ll burn his feet. Men ’s been shot for less ’n he ’s done." "You can’t do it, Cassidy. The agency has n’t been able to get a bit of proof. And McAllister is set against anything rash. I thought at one time he had put on another man. There ’s a chap who makes his headquarters at Twin River who ’s busy, no end. The agency rather suspected he was one of Schatz’s men. Sharp chap, that. And he can’t be working on his own hook, can he?" He glanced at Buck as if expecting a reply. "That’s Tex Ewalt, Whit," informed Mary. "He ’s on our side."