Max Brand

“ The answer came like the click of a cocked revolver.
"You have!"
"By God, Calder——"
"Steady! I have some promising evidence, partner. Would you like to hear part of it?"
"This country has its share of the world's greatest liars," said Hardy, "I don't care what you've heard."
"That saves my time. Understand me straight. I can slap you into a lock-up, if I want to, and then bring in that evidence. I'm not going to do it. I'm going to use you as a trap and through you get some of the worst of the lone riders."
"There's nothin' like puttin' your hand on the table." ”

“ A faint sneer touched Calder's mouth and was gone.
"You're a wise man," he said. "Have you seen much of Jim Silent lately?"
Hardy hesitated. The rôle of informer was new.
"Not directly."
Calder nodded.
"Now put me right if I go off the track. The way I understand it, Jim Silent has about twenty gun fighters and lone riders working in gangs under him and combining for big jobs."
"That's about it."
"The inside circle consists of Silent; Lee Haines, a man who went wrong because the law did him wrong; Hal Purvis, a cunning devil; and Bill Kilduff, a born fighter who loves blood for its own sake." ”

“ The most important citizen was Lee Hardy, the Wells Fargo agent. Office jobs are hard to find in the mountain-desert, and those who hold them win respect. The owner of a swivel-chair is more lordly than the possessor of five thousand "doggies." Lee Hardy had such a swivel-chair. Moreover, since large shipments of cash were often directed by Wells Fargo to Elkhead, Hardy's position was really more significant than the size of the village suggested. ”