"Sure as you're a foot high. My job was dousin' the glims, and I done
it right."

"What about 'Slim'? Was he shooting when he got it?"

The other man shook his head. "This Lindsay man claims he was. I
talked wit' a bull afterward. Dey didn't find no gun on 'Slim.' The
bull says there was no gun-play."

"What became of 'Slim's' gun?"

"Search me."

Durand slammed a big fist exultantly down on the desk. "Better than
the way I planned it. If the gun's gone, I'll frame Lindsay for the
chair. It's Salt Creek for his."

He lost no time in getting into touch with Gorilla Dave, who was under
arrest at the station house. From him he learned the story of the
killing of Collins. One whispered detail of it filled him with
malicious glee.

"The boob! He'll go to the death chair sure if I can frame him. We're
lucky Bromfield ran back into the little room. Up in front a dozen
guys might have seen the whole play even in the dark."

Durand spent the night strengthening the web he had spun to destroy his
enemy. He passed to and fro among those who had been arrested in the
raid and he arranged the testimony of some of them to suit his case.
More than one of the men caught in the dragnet of the police was