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right.’
    ‘Are you sure?’ Lenny asked.
    ‘Sure I’m sure.’
    ‘So it’s a new ranch?’ Neil said.
    ‘Not really, son. It used to be owned by a family from back East but they sold up and went away when the wife got took sick. It was empty for a while, then these two brothers bought it. Heard tell they were boasting about how they were goin’ to make a real go of it and become rich and famous.’
    ‘Those men Mr Cobb shot weren’t the Drake brothers were they?’
    ‘Nope.’ The man shook his head. ‘At least I don’t think so. I didn’t never see the Drakes but someone said they were young guys. In their mid-twenties.’
    ‘Does the name mean anything to you, son?’ Lenny said. He finished with the horses and set them free in the corral.
    ‘No.’
    ‘Well, those two musta worked for ’em, ’lessen of course they stole the horses.’
    ‘I’d better be off. Tell Mr Cobb this. It might be important.’
    ‘You leave now it’ll be dark by the time you get halfway to Newberry,’ Lenny warned. ‘Why don’t you stay here for the night and have a drink and something to eat? Leave first thing in the morning.’
    ‘There’s a gal works in the saloon will suit a good-looking lad like you,’ the other man added.
    Neil was tempted. He gave into temptation.
    ‘OK,’ he said.
    *
    It was late when Reggie Drake decided he ought to ride back to the Double D. He’d enjoyed himself with Madam Josephine’s new girl and would have liked to stay the night, but Allan would be cross if he did and it was foolish to annoy Allan unnecessarily. He wandered down to the livery stable to collect his horse. He was sorry Amy Mallory wasn’t there and decided it would be pointless to ask Greg about the stranger. Greg’s conversation usually consisted of grunts and mutters, especially with those he didn’t like. And Reggie knew he came well down on the list of Greg’s friends. The stable-owner would never answer any questions he didn’t want to.
    The brothers had purchased their ranch five months before. It was large, spreading up into the foothills, and they both intended it should soon become even bigger. A stream ran through it, although they’d found that after the last couple of years with such little rain this had dried to a mere trickle. The grass was already browning and Allan had decided that the cattle would soon have to be moved up into the foothills.
    In good times they could probably run twice as many cows as they had now. But times were bad and things weren’t working out quite as they – both ambitious to make money and a mark on the world – hoped and planned.
    It was dark and the place quiet when Reggie arrived at the ranch house. The few men they could afford to employ were asleep in the bunkhouse. He left his horse in the corral and walked across the dusty strip of land to the house which he and Allanwanted to enlarge and improve. The light of an oil lamp showed in the parlour window. Allan was still up.
    Reggie took a deep breath before going inside. Allan wouldn’t like what he had to say.
    ‘Well?’ His brother stopped pacing as soon as Reggie closed the door behind him. ‘What happened? You’ve been a long time. I expected you back before this.’ Allan sniffed. ‘Did you stop off in the saloon? You did, didn’t you? How could you? You knew how anxious I was.’
    Allan was twenty-seven, the older of the two brothers , Reggie being three years younger. He was also the worrier of the two. Reggie seldom let anything much worry him or for long. Despite their different temperaments it was obvious from their looks that they were brothers. Both had the same cleft chin, brown eyes and dark-brown hair, although Allan’s had a bald spot in the middle and Reggie’s was long and curly.
    Deliberately keeping his brother waiting, Reggie went over to the cupboard and poured himself out a whiskey. He turned, raising the glass. ‘Want one?’
    ‘No! What is it? What’s wrong?’
    ‘I think the