ent past me so close I could feel the wind--" (mumble) "--I
dunno. I've seen 'em hurt worse and get over it, and I've seen 'em die
when you'd think--"

After that it was all mumble and buzz, and then more stars, and blackness
and silence.

Piecing together the fragments, as Johnny could not do, here is the
interpretation.

The three riders whom Johnny had seen as the plane was dipping to its
final fall were Mary V, Tomaso, and Tomaso's brother. Mary V had gone
off to ride the country which Tex had said was too difficult for
her--"and it was _not_ too difficult for a person who had any brains or
any gumption and who did not lose all the sense a person had," etc. She
had gone some distance toward the southeast boundary, and Jake was
behaving like a perfect dear. She had seen a few horses, and they had all
run every which way when they got sight of her, so she was keeping right
along and planning to just gently urge them toward Sinkhole as she came
back.

Well, and on the way back she had seen the young Mexican riding along,
and he had looked perfectly harmless and innocent, and he had a rag tied
around his head besides, and kept putting his hand up, and wabbling in
the saddle exactly as though he was just about ready to fall off his
horse. And how, for gracious sake, was a person going to know he was
only pretending and not sick or hurt a speck, but merely taking a low and
mean advantage of a person's kindness of heart?

Well, and so she had let him come up to her, and he had asked her if she
had any water with her. And she had, and so she twisted around in the
saddle to untie the canteen, and Jake kept stepping around, so the young
Mexican just reached out and held Jake by the bridle while she got the
water--and how was a person to know that he was not trying to help but
was kidnaping a person's horse and herself in the most treacherous manner
ever heard of?

Just when she had got the canteen untied, and was unscrewing the cap to
give it to the boy, another Mexican rode up behind, and he had the most
insipid smile on his face, and a detestable way of trying to be polite.
And he said it was a nice horse she was riding, and he would like to show
that horse to his brother, if she would be so kind to come with him. It
would not be far, he said, and they would show her the way. And they went
on talking in the most detestable manner, and actually forced her to go
along with them. They had guns, and they said they would