He heard the jailer sniff contemptuously, but he paid no attention to him.
Prominent in Sanderson's thoughts was the realization that Dale had taken his money.

He knew that was the last of it--Dale would not admit taking it.

Sanderson had intended to use the four thousand on the Double A irrigation project.

The sum, together with the three thousand he meant to draw from the Okar bank, would have been enough to make a decent start.
Sanderson had some bitter thoughts as he sat on the edge of the cot, all of them centering around Dale, Silverthorn, Maison, Owen, Mary Bransford, and himself.

He realized that he had been defeated in the first clash with the forces opposed to him, that Owen had turned traitor, that Mary Bransford's position now was more precarious than it had been before his coming, and that he had to deal with resourceful, desperate, and unscrupulous men.
And yet, sitting there at the edge of the cot, Sanderson grinned.