Then he tore a strip from
his shirt and proceeded to bandage the arm as best he could, accompanying
the action with groans and curses that told of the pain he was enduring.
Bert's first thought was to steal down upon the man and at the point of
his revolver demand his surrender. He had the drop on him, and, quick as
the ruffian had proved himself on the draw, he would be at too great a
disadvantage to resist. But, after all, what right had he to arrest the
man? As far as the shooting in the saloon was concerned, the dead man had
started the fight, and the other had acted in self-defense. The question
of cheating was an open one that could probably never be determined. It
had not been a murder, but a duel, and the quicker hand and better shot
had won. There was no call for Bert to interfere.
As to the charge of cattle rustling, he had absolutely no proof to go
upon. He had the moral conviction that the man was mixed up in the
affair, but not a scintilla of evidence that would stand for a moment in
a court of law. It would be high-handed and indefensible to make this man
a prisoner, and take him on to the ranch for questioning by Melton.
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