"What are you guys goin' ter do with me?"
"That depends, Matt. When a lad is straight with me, I generally play
square with him. All this took place in Sunken Valley?"
"Yep; whar'd you hear it called that?"
"Oh, I know more'n some ov you boys think I do. That name's been
floatin' 'bout fer some time. I've even got the spot located--it's
straight south thar a ways. But you've been in it, an' I never have.
Here's whar you can serve the law, an' so get out of yer own trouble if
yer so minded. It don't make a hell ov a lot o' difference to me
whether yer speak up or not, but it's liable to ter you. What do yer
say?"
"Fire away; I reckon I'm up against it anyhow."
"What's the valley like, an' how do you get into it?"
"Well, I'd say it was just a sort o' sink in the desert, a kinder
freak. Anyhow, I never saw nuthin' like it afore. You'd never know it
was thar a hundred yards away; it kinder scares me sometimes when I
come up to it thro' all this sand. The walls is solid rock, almost
straight up an' down, but thar's a considerable stream flowin' down
thar that just bursts out a hole in the rock, an' plenty o' grass fer
quite a bunch of steers.
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