Chapter VII

38

STRANGE FISH

One began taking rifles out of the front seat of the truck.

The others fooled around the back of the truck. They lowered the tailgate, which made a ramp down to the ground. The truck had been backed up to a little jump−off, and the tailgate made a gently sloping ramp.

They took five saddled horses out of the truck.

The truck, the five men, the horses, were about half a mile away.

The five mounted the horses. All of them carried rifles, either across the pommels, or in saddle−sheaths under the stirrup leathers.

They rode first to the flat meadow where the plane stood. They stayed on their horses for a while, riding slowly around the plane, examining it. Then one got off his horse and inspected the inside of the plane.

Now someone yelled at them.

The yell came from the hills nearby. It was a deep−throated voice with a touch of foreign accent. “'Allo!

'Allo!” the voice cried. “Be you the sheriff?”

A big voice from the horseman said that hell yes, this be the sheriff. He said it quizzically, in a way that was distinctly Oklahoma.

Now a man burst out of the red−oak thicket on a hillside. He didn't run toward the horsemen. Instead he beckoned.

“Come here!” he yelled. “The dead man's over here!”

“Blazes!” Monk said suddenly, sickly.

Doc said, “Keep out of sight. I am going over and see what I can find out.”

THE red−oaks were all sizes. Some were no more than knee height, stunted little trees with large green irregular leaves. The largest ones were probably fifteen feet high, but tall trees and short trees all grew together. It was a jungle, but a good place to move silently.

Doc had worked within earshot of the spot where the body lay by the time the sheriff—and his posse, for that was what it obviously was—had reached the place.

The stranger, the one who had come out and shouted to the sheriff, had a leathery, hungry, wolfish look. He had a very straight back, a ramrod carriage that made him give the impression of having a boil on the back of his neck.

He said, “Over here! Over this way!” He kept saying it loudly until the sheriff got close and interrupted.

“You the fellow who called us?” the sheriff demanded.

“That's right. Yes, I called you.”