Watch him, Steve."
"Well," said Packard as Royce broke off, sensing that this was not all
to be said of Temple; "let's have it. What else about him?"
But Royce shook his head slowly, while his big, thick fingers filled
his pipe.
"We ain't got all night to jus' squat here an' gossip about our
neighbors," he said presently. "There's other things to be said before
things can be done. First rattle, an' to get goin', I'm much obliged
for that little bluff you threw Blenham's way about me being your
foreman. What you need an' what you got to have is a man with both
eyes wide open. Oh, I know, Steve," as Packard started to speak.
"You'd offer me the job if both my legs an' arms was gone, too. But it
don't go."
"I'm going to need a man right away," argued Steve. "I'll have to do a
lot of running around, I suppose, looking up the law, arranging for
belated payments, and so forth. I don't want to leave the ranch
without a head. You know the men, you know the outfit."
But Royce, though his lips twitched, was firm.
"I don't know the men any too well either," he said. "They're all your
grandfather's hirin'. But they're all live an' they all know the game.
I won't swear as to how far you can trust any one of 'em; but you'll
have to find that out for yourself as we go on."
"Name one of them for me," was Packard's quiet way of accepting his old
foreman's ultimatum.
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