Claims to be from Nebraska. But he’s from Kansas. Rich cattleman—an’ has a lot of stock.”

“Ahuh. How’d Surface get thet Twin Sombreros Ranch from Neece?”

“Wal, thet never was cleared up to suit me. Neece was operatin’ big. He had five thousand haid comin’ up from Texas for Surface. The cash for this herd was paid Neece at the Cattleman’s Bank in Dodge. More than fifty thousand dollars. Neece was fetchin’ thet sum over heah to our bank. But he got held up by three masked men an’ robbed. Wal, the queer angle is thet the big herd jest vanished off the range. Neither hoof nor hair of them was ever found.”

“But the cow ootfit!” exclaimed Brazos, aghast.

“Same as the herd. They vanished. Neece made a blunder at Dodge. He hired a foreman thet he didn’t know, let him pick an ootfit, an’ sent them south after the herd.”

“That ootfit was bought off.”

“Wal, there was no proof of anythin’ except the longhorns were gone. Neece couldn’t deliver, an’ he had been robbed of the money. Twin Sombreros was mortgaged an’ the banks wouldn’t advance more. Neece lost all to Surface. He’s a broken man now, livin’ down the Purgatory. An’ the twin gals, Neece’s joy an’ pride, air running a restaurant over by the railroad station.”

“Twin girls?”

“Shore. Eighteen years old—the prettiest gurls in all the West. An’ you cain’t tell them apart—not to save yore life. June an’ Janis, they’re called. Neece sent them to Kansas City to go to school. Thet was ten years ago. An’ he didn’t see them often an’ not at all of late years. He developed this Twin Sombreros Ranch for them. Thet was his brand. Two high—peaked sombreros.”

“Kiskadden, what yu tellin’ me all this for?” suddenly queried Brazos, sharp with suspicion.

“Aw, just range gossip, cowboy,” drawled the Texan with a smile.

“Yeah? Wal, yu don’t strike me as the gossip kind. I figure Inskip’s a friend of yore’s?”

“Yes.