"
"Not even Cahill?"
"No, Cahill came in just before I said I would stop the stage, but I
remember particularly that before I spoke I waited for him to get
back to the exchange."
"And Crosby tells me," continued Carr, "that the instant you had gone
he looked into the exchange and saw Cahill at the farthest corner
from the door. He could have heard nothing."
"If you ask me, I think you've begun at the wrong end," said Ranson.
"If I were looking for the Red Rider I'd search for him in Kiowa
City."
"Why?"
"Because, at this end no one but a few officers knew that the
paymaster was coming, while in Kiowa everybody in the town knew it,
for they saw him start. It would be very easy for one of those
cowboys to ride ahead and lie in wait for him in the buttes. There
are several tough specimens in Kiowa. Any one of them would rob a man
for twenty dollars--let alone ten thousand. There's 'Abe' Fisher and
Foster King, and the Chase boys, and I believe old 'Pop' Henderson
himself isn't above holding up one of his own stages."
"He's above shooting himself in the lungs," said Carr. "Nonsense. No,
I am convinced that someone followed you from this post, and perhaps
Cahill can tell us who that was.
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