Wellesly shrugged his shoulders and climbed into the carriage that was to take him to Las Plumas. "I can't help it," he thought, "if he chooses to look at it that way. I told him the truth, and I put it in the kindest way. The little fellows are sure to go down before the big ones. That is the law that governs all commerce nowadays. He is bound to be eaten up, and he ought to have sense enough to see it. He'd save himself trouble and money if he would take my advice, compromise, and get out now with what he can. He can't stop things from taking their natural course, and the more he fights the sooner he'll go under. Of course, I don't like to do anything against him, after he has saved my life, but my private sentiments can't interfere with the company's interests, and measures will have to be taken before next fall's round-up to put a stop to this whole thing. I offered the olive branch, and he refused it, and now he can have all the war he wants. He is the head and backbone of all the opposition to us, and if we were rid of him the Fillmore Company could double its profits. I don't doubt for a minute that he killed Will Whittaker, and if we could prove it that would solve the whole matter. He said he would submit to arrest and trial if we could prove that Will died a violent death. That means, of course, that nobody saw him commit the murder and that he has hid the body where he thinks it can't be found. "Then it must be very much out of the way, where he is sure nobody would think of looking for it. Probably it isn't any where near the traveled road, the cattle ranges, nor the ranches in the foothills. It must be in some out of the way corner of the Fernandez plain. Whittaker says the searching parties have been all over this part of the country, so it must be farther up toward the north. The White Sands are up that way, I remember, and if a body were buried there, deep enough, it might as well be at the bottom of the sea. Yes, I think that's a pretty good idea. Whittaker must send a searching party up to the White Sands as soon as he can get one together. If we can find that body--there's _adios_ to Emerson Mead and the fight against us. He'll have to hang or go to the penitentiary for life." When Wellesly reached Las Plumas he found the town basking in peace and friendliness. Colonel Whittaker and Judge Harlin were enjoying a midday mint julep together over the bar of the Palmleaf saloon; John Daniels and Joe Davis were swapping yarns over a watermelon in the back room of Pierre Delarue's store, while Delarue himself was laughing gleefully at their stories, and Mrs. Harlin was assisting Mrs. Daniels in preparations for the swellest card party of the summer, which the sheriff's wife was to give that afternoon.