If he had entertained a hope of freeing himself from his band, of
getting away to a safer country, he abandoned it at the very sight of
these men. There was power here and he was bound.
The big man spoke in low, hoarse whispers, and at this all the others
gathered round him, close to the table. There were evidently some signs
of membership not plain to me. Then all the heads were bent over the
table. Low voices spoke, queried, answered, argued. By straining my ears
I caught a word here and there. They were planning. I did not attempt to
get at the meaning of the few words and phrases I distinguished, but
held them in mind so to piece all together afterward. Before the
plotters finished conferring I had an involuntary flashed knowledge of
much and my whirling, excited mind made reception difficult.
When these rustlers finished whispering I was in a cold sweat. Steele
was to be killed as soon as possible by Blome, or by the gang going to
Steele's house at night. Morton had been seen with the Ranger. He was to
meet the same fate as Hoden, dealt by Bo Snecker, who evidently worked
in the dark like a ferret. Any other person known to be communing with
Steele, or interested in him, or suspected of either, was to be
silenced.
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