Roy Norton

“ I want folks around Shingle to talk about my havin' it in for Vance and bein' his enemy. I want every one here to think that I'm just ready to skin and eat Vance alive. A man like that has enemies, don't you see? And a man's enemies talk to a feller who is supposed to be hankerin' to get him. In other words, I'm goin' to learn more about Vance from now on than I could ever learn if folks didn't know that I was gunnin' for him. You just wait and see.”
Tom shook his head doubtfully and looked worried.
“Now, see here, Tommy,” the prospector said, “you got to get your mind off your troubles. ”

“ About thirteen hands high, free stride, except for one hoof that's a little out of kilter, wears sure-enough clothes, got sort of green-gray eyes, a tongue sharp as a razor, and more yaller-white hair than would make a saddle blanket and one gross of don't-forget-me-love watch chains. ”

“ No one else around this camp envies him. When a man gets that low——”
“What's this party's name?” demanded Josh.
“He's known here as Cotton-tail Burke. What his real, honest-Injun name is I don't know. They do say that he did time in San Quentin once for sandbaggin' a man; but I don't believe it. He ain't got the nerve.”
He stopped for a minute and reverted to questions concerning Tucson, but found the prospector singularly absent-minded. A messenger from his mine called him on a business matter, and Josh took the opportunity to make his departure. ”

“ A minute later, he straightened up, and the grin broadened and he chuckled.
“By the piper that played before Moses, I got her!” he declared. “That's the woman that was with the man that got the clean-up! And she knows all about the house that Jack built! Next thing is to find out who she is, and where Jack is.” ”

“ He goes back to Sonora, with quite a little home stake he made out of placer ground over near Placerville, and about fifteen years ago I was superintendent of a mine down in Sonora and gets to know him.
“I liked the old feller first rate, and, besides, I was sparkin' his youngest gal. Then Diaz comes along, accuses Juan of harborin' insurrectos, and fines him. Diaz's Generalissimos comes again, about a year later, and they won't believe the old man when he tells 'em he's broke. ”

“ Almost immediately the door opened and Tom entered, looking troubled.
“See here, Josh,” he said, “I just heard that you had threatened old Vance in the street. I don't wish you to get into any trouble on my account.”
“Trouble!” Josh grinned and then laughed boisterously. “Trouble! There ain't goin' to be no trouble,” he asserted. “You don't sabe, that's all. ”

“ Also they found pay ore over here on the other side of Shingle—that's the Washoe, there, that spot—and the greasers finally owned all there was of Bonanza City, and used old cabins for firewood to save the trouble of cuttin' it. They kept pluggin' along, doin' not very well, as times went in them days, until they got down so deep in their shaft that the water run 'em out. Then one of the fellers up and croaked, and another had to go back to Sonora, and the third man, bein' left alone, had to give up. His name was Juan Carvallo. ”