Show reason for suspicion by VIC YARDMAN associated newspapers service HOW me the one among bishow s your guests gue s ts or ers said sheriff newton cook chos left handed and ill show the man who stole your money mac brickell owner of the bar Z Y cattle ranch looked up quickly for a moment lie he studied the loan lean bronze face of pecos county countes coun tys s law officer officer then turned to glance J n gly at his foreman min dusty prentice prenice t sheriff cook said well Is there a left handed hombre on the ranch yes said brickell slowly there is dusty here was trying t to teach him a rope trick the other day and lie he had trouble because landon was left handed his names warren landon ile he paused what makes you think that the thief is is a left left handed jigger sheriff landon is one of my best paying custo customers iners ill explain that later cook nodded toward dusty go fetch him dusty and well ask him a few questions wait a minute dusty turned at the sharp command from his boss newt brickell went on 1 I aint going to allow you y 0 u to accuse landon without knowing first what grounds youve got landoas Lan dons been coming here every summer for three years business is too tough in the dude ranch game to risk losing a cus aaa sheriff Slie riff cook said well Is there a left handed hombre on the ranc ranch ll tomer like him besides the mans rich what would lie he go stealing a paltry thousand dollars for maybe it if business is tough in in the dude ranch business its tough in other businesses maybe its tough with landon and maybe why landon needed the thousand dollars sheriff cook pushed his sombrero and scratched his head 1 I can see your point of view though mae mac so suppose we attack the thing from a different angle suppose you an me and dusty go ver over to landoas Lan dons cabin and tell him about the robbery we wont say nothing but ill look at him mighty suspiciously and the fact that all three of us are there wearing guns too will if hes guilty have an effect on him I 1 mean by his manner hell reveal his guilt youre sure he will landon was supposed to be off fishing when the money was stolen cook shrugged the man who stole that thousand dollars thinks lies hes so smart that no one would ever suspect him when we pop in on landon first shot out of the box boc hell be so danged surprised hell give himself away whether he wants to or not sheriff cook pointed to the floor of the small room in which they were standing see those cigarette ashes theres enough to guess that they came from three or four cigarettes at least but do you see sed any stubs no and why because the thief was too smart to leave anything around as identifying as cigarette stubs however ilo wever heres this paper of matches probably dropped in the dark but unimportant why again because even though there were fingerprints on the package they do us any good were miles from anyone who has the intelligence or equipment to read fingerprints moreover out here we dont resort to such newfangled new ideas and ana the thief knew that nor listen the officer went on this his is the way I 1 figure it landon knew that the thousand dollar payroll arrived at the ranch yesterday morning mornin gr as did everyone else ile he knew because of his past three years gears experience on the Z Y that you always left it in this office overnight until the next lay day when you pay off ile he needed a thou sand bucks and lie needed it in a hurry so yesterday afternoon lie he sets off on a fishing trip alone taking a lunch with him in case he return by supper time toward dark when everyone Is in eathia their supper lie he comes back climbs in the office window and waits there lie rats eats his lunch and smokes okes a cigarette or two while the evening wears away presently as is customary out here the guests and most ot of the punchers gather in the main ranch house for the regular evening of fun it is then that landon or whoever the thief is climbed out of the window with the thousand dollars went to his cabin hid the money and then came up to the main ranch house that said Mac Brickell sounds like c a darn good story and darn logi logical c al only what makes you think warren landon was the man because hes left handed listen mac lets you and me and dusty pop over to laudont Lau Lan dons cabin like I 1 said it if lies hes innocent therell be no harm done it if lies hes guilty you can see for yourself for a moment mac brickell hesitated then he shrugged and led the way out into the ranch yard the three men crossed the brook that separated the main buildings from the two rows of guest cabins and presently stopped before one whose door stood open brickell rapped and peered inside but cook pushed his way past and ranged along the wall the ranch owner followed and then carne came dusty A tall blond man rose from the cot against the opposite wall sat up and stared at them curiously well brickell up brickell shifted nervously why nothing much mr landon you see the sheriff here carne came up to investigate the robbery of the payroll from brick ells office cook cut in ile he thrust forward his jaw belligerently know anything about it mr landon the officers voice was filled with accusation and contempt brickell gestured futilely almost apologetically landon bounded to his feet do I 1 know anything about it me mea why the devil would I 1 know anything about your lousy thousand dollars why you insulting what thousand dollars are you talking about cook barked his hand was resting lightly on the butt of his six shooter who said anything about a thousand dollars how did you know there was that amount in the payroll landon blinked swallowed the blust blustering tring bravado and indignation dropped from him like a cloak why why ive been coming here for three years I 1 ought to know by this time what Bric kells payroll amounts to eli eh brickell ile he turned to the ranch owner desperate appeal in his tones im sorry mr landon brickell said 1 I at first I 1 believe it could be you but I 1 guess the sheriff was right you see the amount ot of my payroll changes overy every month what with letting hands go and taking them on during the height of the season sorry landon was like an animal at bay but almost at once he saw that escape was impossible because both sheriff cook and dusty had drawn their guns and were ready later on back in Bric kella kells office sheriff cook produced once more the paper of matches you see these he said well notice how the matches that have been used were torn from the lefthand left hand side of the package A right handed man always holds the package in his left hand and tears the matches on the right side off first how I 1 knew your thief was left handed brickell nodded dismally he had lost a first class customer and in an especially pleasant mood later after examining the partly used packages of matches belonging to half a dozen right handed men he was forced to admit that cook was right and clever 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