t to make our getaway," he said. "Butch is done for. They got me here
under the collar-bone. I reckon they touched the lung. I never saw such
shooting. But Butch got Wyatt."

"Tell it straight," demanded Plimsoll. "How many of 'em? What did they
do?"

"We no more than made the lookout," said Hahn, "before six men came
riding along, heeled for trouble. One of them was the black-bearded guy
from California who was here with that Brandon, first time they came
nosing around. And another was Wyatt, God blast his rotten soul in hell
for a twisting hound! Wyatt was just starting to point 'em out the
entrance when Butch lets him have it. Hits him smack in the forehead.
Before he could show 'em the way in. He may have told 'em about it on
the way up. But Blackbeard must have caught the shine of Butch's barrel.
He fires back--they all had their rifles handy cross the pommel--the
bullet goes plumb through the tree and knocks Butch down. Went through
both hips. He falls against me and I show in the open, sliding on that
damned slippery boulder, sliding inside and out of range, but they got
me.

"They'll be through any minute, Plim. They'll go careful until they find
there's no one firing back at them, then it won't take 'em long to
figure out the way in. You can't tell how much Wyatt told 'em on the way
up. They've got me. I can't ride. My lungs are filling up. Butch is
paralyzed--if he ain't dead. A hell of a wind-up! You can make it out
the way Reynolds did. None of the gang that left with Wyatt knows about
the side-trail by Spur Rock. But you'd better beat it. Me, I've turned
my last card. The case is empty!"

His head fell forward on to his arms. A trickle of scarlet came from the
corner of his mouth. Plimsoll looked at him calculatingly. Hahn could
not ride. But he wouldn't die for a while. To leave him here where the
raiders would find him might mean a confession wrung from him that would
tell of the getaway trail by Spur Rock and Nipple Peaks. He shook Hahn
by the sound shoulder.

"Brace up," he said. "You can hide in Split Rock Cave. I'm going to put
the girl in there. Take another drink. Pick up some grub. There's water
in the cave. You can come out soon's the coast is clear."

"I'll not be coming out," said Hahn huskily. "But it's a good move." He
weakly collected the bottle, some scraps of food.

Plimsoll stooped over Molly, coming out of her faint, and gagged her
with her own scarf as her eyes opened and looked