"How is it that Gary Warden figures on getting cars, Simmons?" said
Lawler.

Simmons got up, his face flaming with rage.

"You're accusin' me of holdin' somethin' back, eh? You're callin' me a
liar! You're thinkin' I'm----"

"Easy, there, Simmons."

There was a chill in Lawler's voice that brought Simmons rigid with a
snap--as though he had suddenly been drenched with cold water. The flush
left his face; he drew a deep, quick breath; then stood with open mouth,
watching Lawler.

"Simmons," said the latter; "it has been my experience that whenever a
man is touchy about his veracity, he will bear watching. You and Gary
Warden have both flared up from the same spark. I don't know whether
this thing has been framed up or not. But it looks mighty suspicious. It
is the first time there has been a lack of cars after a round-up.
Curiously, the lack of cars is coincident with Gary Warden's first
season as a buyer of cattle.

"I don't say that you've got anything to do with it, but it's mighty
plain you know something about it. I'm not asking you to tell what you
know, because if there is a frame-up, it's a mighty big thing, and you
are about as important a figure in it as a yellow coyote in a desert. I
reckon that's all, Simmons. You can tell your boss that Kane Lawler says
he can go to hell."