talpers was back in his store in two days. lowell sent word that the trader might return. at first talpers was hesitant and suspicious. there was a lurking fear in his mind that the agent had some trick in view, but, as life took its accustomed course, bill resumed his domineering attitude about the store. a casual explanation that he had been buying some cattle was enough to explain his absence.
bill's recent experiences had caused him to regard the agent with new hatred, not unmixed with fear. the obvious thing for lowell to have done was to have rushed more men on the trail and captured talpers and mcfann before they crossed the reservation line. it could have been done, with fire bear doing the trailing. even the half-breed admitted that much. but, instead of carrying out such a programme, the agent had sent fire bear and plenty buffalo with word that the trader might come back—that no prosecution was intended.
clearly enough such an unusual proceeding indicated that the girl was still afraid on account of the letter, and had persuaded the agent to abandon the chase. there was the key to the whole situation—the letter! bill determined to guard it more closely than ever. he opened his safe frequently to see that it was there.
as a whole, then, things were not breaking so badly, bill figured. to be sure, it would have cleared things permanently if jim mcfann had done as he had been told, instead of weakening in such unexpected and absurd fashion. bringing that girl into camp, as jim had done, had given talpers the most unpleasant surprise of his life. he had come out of the affair luckily. the letter was what had done it all. he would lie low and keep an eye on affairs from now on. mcfann would have no difficulty in shifting for himself out in the sagebrush, now that he was alone. bill would see that he got grub and even a little whiskey occasionally, but there would be no more assignments for him in which women were concerned, for the half-breed had too tender a heart for his own good!
the indian agent stopped at bill's store occasionally, on his way to and from the greek letter ranch. their conversation ran mostly to trade and minor affairs of life in general. even the weather was fallen back upon in case some one happened to be within earshot, which was usually the case, as bill's store was seldom empty. no one who heard them would suspect that the men were watching, weighing, and fathoming each other with all the nicety at individual command. talpers was always wondering just how much the indian agent knew, and lowell was saying to himself:
"this scoundrel has some knowledge in his possession which vitally affects the young woman i love. also he is concerned, perhaps deeply, in the murder on the dollar sign road. yet he has fortified himself so well in his villainy that he feels secure."
for all his increased feeling of security, talpers was wise enough to let the bottle alone and also to do no boasting. likewise he stuck faithfully to his store—so faithfully that it became a matter of public comment.
"if bill sticks much closer to this store he's goin' to fall into a decline," said andy wolters, who had been restored to favor in the circle of cowpunchers that lolled about talpers's place. "he's gettin' a reg'lar prison pallor now. he used to be hittin' the trail once in a while, but nowadays he's hangin' around that post-office section as if he expected a letter notifyin' him that a rich uncle had died."
"mebbe he's afraid of travelin' these parts since that feller was killed on the dollar sign," suggested another cowboy. "doggoned if i don't feel a little shaky myself sometimes when i'm ridin' that road alone at night. looks like some of them injuns ought to have been hung for that murder, right off the reel, and then folks'd feel a lot easier in their minds."
the talk then would drift invariably to the subject of the murder and the general folly of the court in allowing fire bear to go on the indian agent's recognizance. but talpers, though he heard the chorus of denunciation from the back of the store, and though he was frequently called upon for an opinion, never could be drawn into the conversation. he bullied his clerk as usual, and once in a while swept down, in a storm of baseless anger, upon some unoffending indian, just to show that bill talpers was still a man to be feared, but for the most part he waited silently, with the confidence of a man who holds a winning hand at cards.
the same days that saw talpers's confidence returning were days of dissatisfaction to lowell. he felt that he was being constantly thwarted. he would have preferred to give his entire attention to the murder mystery, but details of reservation management crowded upon him in a way that made avoidance impossible. among his duties lowell found that he must act as judge and jury in many cases that came up. there were domestic difficulties to be straightened out, and thieves and brawlers to be sentenced. likewise there was occasional flotsam, cast up from the human sea outside the reservation, which required attention.
one of those reminders of the outer world was brought in by an indian policeman. the stranger was a rough-looking individual, to all appearances a harmless tramp, who had been picked up "hoofing it" across the reservation.
the indian policeman explained, through the interpreter, that he had found the wanderer near a sub-agency, several miles away—that he had shown a disposition to fight, and had only been cowed by the prompt presentation of a revolver at his head.
"why, you 're no tramp—you're a yeggman," said lowell to the prisoner, interrupting voluble protestations of innocence. "you're one of the gentry that live off small post-offices and banks. i'll bet you've stolen stamps enough in your career to keep the post-office department going six months. and you've given heart disease to no end of stockholders in small banks—prosperous citizens who have had to make good the losses caused by your safe-breaking operations. am i bringing an unjust indictment against you, pardner?"
a flicker of a smile was discernible somewhere in the tangle of beard that hid the lineaments of the prisoner's face.
"if i inventoried the contents of this bundle," continued lowell, "i'd find a pretty complete outfit of the tools that keep the safe companies working overtime on replacements, wouldn't i?"
the prisoner nodded.
"there's no use of my dodgin', judge," he said. "the tools are there—all of 'em. but i'm through with the game. all i want now is enough of a stake to get me back home to omaha, where the family is. that's why i was footin' it acrost this injun country—takin' a short cut to a railroad where i wouldn't be watched for."
"i'll consider your case awhile," remarked lowell after a moment's thought. "perhaps we can speed you on your way to omaha and the family."
the prisoner was taken back to the agency jail leaving his bundle on lowell's desk. about midnight lowell took the bundle and, going to the jail, roused the policeman who was on guard and was admitted to the prisoner's cell.
"look here, red," said lowell. "your name is red, isn't it?"
"red egan."
"well, red egan, did you ever hear of jimmy valentine?"
the prisoner scratched his head while he puffed at a welcome cigarette.
"no? well, red, this jimmy valentine was in the business you're quitting, and he opened a safe in a good cause. i want you to do the same for me. if you can do a neat job, with no noise, i'll see that you get across the reservation all right, with stake enough to get you to omaha."
"you're on, judge! i'd crack one more for a good scout like you any day."
three quarters of an hour later red egan was working professionally upon the safe in bill talpers's store. the door to talpers's sleeping-room was not far away, but it was closed, and the trader was a thorough sleeper, so the cracksman might have been conducting operations a mile distant, so far as interruption from bill was concerned.
as he worked, red egan told whispered stories to a companion—stories which related to barriers burned, pried, and blown away.
"i don't mind how close they sleep to their junk," observed red, as he rested momentarily from his labors. "unless a man's got insomnier and insists on makin' his bed on top of his safe, he ain't got a chance to make his iron doors stay shut if one of the real good 'uns takes a notion to make 'em fly apart. there she goes!" he added a moment later, as the safe door swung open.
"all right, red," came the whispered reply, "but remember that i get whatever money's in sight, just for appearances' sake, though it's letters and such things i'm really after."
"it goes as you say, boss, and i hope you get what you want. there goes that inside door."
in the light of a flash-lamp lowell saw a letter and a roll of bills. he took both, while red egan, his work done, packed up the kit of tools.
lowell had recognized helen's handwriting on the envelope, and knew he had found what he wanted.
"you've earned that trip to omaha, red," said lowell, after they had gone back to their horses which had been standing in a cottonwood grove near by. "when we get back to the agency i'll put you in my car and drive you far enough by daybreak so that you can catch a train at noon."
"you're a square guy, judge, but if that's the letter you've been wantin' to get, why don't you read it? or maybe you know what's in it without readin' it."
"no, i don't know what's in it, and i don't want to read it, red."
red's amazed whistle cut through the night silence.
"well, if that ain't the limit! havin' a safe-crackin' job done for a letter that you ain't ever seen and don't want to see the inside of!"
"it's all right, red. don't worry about it, because you've earned your money twice over to-night. don't look on your last job as a failure, by any means."
a few hours later the indian agent, not looking like a man who had been up all night, halted his car at talpers's store, after he had received an excited hail from andy wolters.
"you're jest in time!" exclaimed andy. "bill talpers's safe has been cracked and bill is jest now tryin' to figger the damage. he says he's lost a roll of money and some other things."
lowell found talpers going excitedly through the contents of his broken safe. it was not the first time the trader had pawed over the papers. nor were the oaths that fell on lowell's ears the first that the trader had uttered since the discovery that he had been robbed as he slept.
it was plain enough that talpers was suffering from a deeper shock than could come through any mere loss of money. not even when lowell contrived to drop the roll of bills, where the trader's clerk picked it up with a whoop of glee, did talpers's expression change. his oaths were those of a man distraught, and the contumely he heaped upon sheriff tom redmond moved that official to a spirited defense.
"i can't see why you hold me responsible for a safe that you've been keeping within earshot all these years," retorted tom, in answer to talpers's sneers about the lack of protection afforded the county's business men. "if you can't hear a yeggman working right next to your sleeping-quarters, how do you expect me to hear him, 'way over to white lodge? i'll leave it to lowell here if your complaint is reasonable. i'll do the best i can to get this man, but it looks to me as if he's made a clean getaway. what sort of papers was it you said you lost, bill?"
"i didn't say."
"well, then, i'm asking you. was they long or short, rolled or flat, or tied with pink ribbon?"
"never mind!" roared talpers. "you round up this burglar and let me go through him. i'll get what's mine, all right."
redmond made a gesture of despair. a man who had been robbed and had recovered his money, and was so keen after papers that he wouldn't or couldn't describe, was past all fooling with. the sheriff rode off, grumbling, without even questioning lowell to ascertain if the indian police had seen any suspicious characters on the reservation.
bill talpers's mental convolutions following the robbery reminded lowell of the writhing of a wounded snake. bill's fear was that the letter would be picked up and sent back to the girl at the greek letter ranch. suspicion of a plot in the affair did not enter his head. to him it was just a sinister stroke of misfortune—one of the chance buffets of fate. one tramp burglar out of the many pursuing that vocation had happened upon the talpers establishment at a time when its proprietor was in an unusually sound sleep. bill gave himself over to thoughts of the various forms of punishment he would inflict upon the wandering yeggman in case a capture were effected—thoughts which came to naught, as red egan had been given so generous a start toward his omaha goal that he never was headed.
as the days went past and the letter was not discovered, bill began to gather hope. perhaps the burglar, thinking the letter of no value, had destroyed it, in natural disgust at finding that he had dropped the money which undoubtedly was the real object of his safe-breaking.
if talpers had known what had really happened to the letter, all his self-comfortings would have vanished. lowell had lost no time in taking the missive to helen. he had found affairs at the greek letter ranch apparently unchanged. wong was at work in the kitchen. two indians, who had been hired to harvest the hay, which was the only crop on the ranch, were busy in a near-by field. helen, looking charming in a house dress of blue, with white collar and cuffs, was feeding a tame magpie when lowell drove into the yard.
"moving picture entitled 'the metamorphosis of miss tatters,'" said lowell, amusedly surveying her.
"the scratches still survive, but the riding-suit will take a lot of mending," said helen, showing her scratched hands and wrists.
"well, if this very becoming costume has a pocket, here's something to put in it," remarked lowell, handing her the letter.
helen's smile was succeeded by a startled, anxious look, as she glanced at the envelope and then at lowell.
"no need for worry," lowell assured her. "nobody has read that letter since it passed out of the possession of our esteemed postmaster, bill talpers, sometime after one o'clock this morning."
"but how did he come to give it up?" asked helen, her voice wavering.
"he did not do so willingly. it might be said he did not give it up knowingly. as a matter of fact, our friend talpers had no idea he had lost his precious possession until it had been gone several hours."
"but how—"
"'how' is a word to be flung at red egan, knight of the steel drill and the nitro bottle and other what-nots of up-to-date burglary," said lowell. "though i saw the thing done, i can't tell you how. i only hope it clears matters for you."
"it does in a way. i cannot tell you how grateful i am," said helen, her trembling hands tightly clutching the letter.
"only in a way? i am sorry it does not do more."
"but it's a very important way, i assure you!" exclaimed helen. "it eliminates this man—this talpers—as a personal menace. but when you are so eager to get every thread of evidence, how is it that you can give this letter to me, unread? you must feel sure it has some bearing on the awful thing—the tragedy that took place back there on the hill."
"that is where faith rises superior to a very human desire to look into the details of mystery," said lowell. "if i were a real detective, or spy, as you characterized me, i would have read that letter at the first opportunity. but i knew that my reading it would cause you grave personal concern. i have faith in you to the extent that i believe you would do nothing to bring injustice upon others. consequently, from now on i will proceed to forget that this letter ever existed."
"you may regret that you have acted in this generous manner," said the girl. "what if you find that all your faith has been misplaced—that i am not worthy of the trust—"
"really, there is nothing to be gained by saying such things," interposed lowell. "as i told you, i am forgetting that the letter ever existed."
"do you know," she said, "i wish this letter could have come back to me from any one but you?"
"why?"
"because, coming as it has, i am more or less constrained to act as fairly as you believe i shall act."
"you might give it back to talpers and start in on any sort of a deal you chose."
"impossible! for fear talpers may get it, here is what i shall do to the letter."
here helen tore it in small pieces and tossed them high in the air, the breeze carrying them about the yard like snow.
"in which event," laughed lowell, "it seems that i win, and my faith in you is to be justified."
"i wish i could assure you of as much," answered helen sadly. "but if it happens that your trust is not justified, i hope you will not think too harshly of me."
"harshly!" exclaimed lowell. "harshly! why, if you practiced revolver shooting on me an hour before breakfast every morning, or if you used me for a doormat here at the greek letter ranch, i couldn't think anything but lovingly of you."
"oh!" cried helen, clapping her hands over her ears and running up the porch steps, as lowell turned to his automobile. "you've almost undone all the good you've accomplished to-day."
"thanks for that word 'almost,'" laughed lowell.
"then i'll make it 'quite,'" flung helen, but her words were lost in the shifting of gears as lowell started back to the agency.
that night helen dreamed that bill talpers, on hands and knees, was moving like a misshapen shadow about the yard in the moonlight picking up the letter which she had torn to pieces.
