CHAPTER XXI

LIFE AND DEATH

The third group in the affray consisted of cowboys. Weary and
bedraggled, yet joyous at the suppression of the uprising, they set out
for home about noon. Stephen, mounted upon Pat, accompanied them. They
headed into the northwest, riding slowly, talking over the affair, while
Stephen explained in part his interest in the black horse. Night found
them near a water-hole, and here they went into camp, Stephen weak and
distressed, his whole body aching, his arm and shoulder throbbing in
agonizing pain. The men proved attentive and considerate; but he lay
down exhausted and courted sleep, hardly hearing what they said. Sleep
came to him only fitfully, and he was glad when break of day brought a
change. They rode on through the second day, usually in sober silence,
on into another dusk and another night of torture. A third day and a
third dusk followed, but there was no camp this time. Continuing
forward, just before dawn, with the moon brilliant in the heavens, they
reached a cluster of buildings. One of them was a dwelling with a fence
around it as a protection against cattle and horses, and to the rear of
this all dismounted. Stephen led Pat into a spacious stable, and, with
the assistance of the others, unsaddled and unbridled him, watered and
fed him generously, then left him for the night.

Instantly Pat began to inquire into his condition and surroundings. He
was stiff and sore and a little nervous from the events of the past few
days, and he found the stable, spacious though it was, depressing after
his protracted life in the open. Yet there were many offsetting
comforts. He had received a generous supply of grain and all the water
he could drink. Then there was another comfort, though he awoke to this
only after sinking to rest. His stall was thickly bedded with straw,
which was comfort indeed, and though he had become accustomed to the
pricking of the desert sand, he nestled into the straw with a sigh of
satisfaction. To his right and left other horses stirred restlessly, and
from outside came an occasional nicker, presumably from some unroofed
inclosure. All these sounds kept him awake for a time, and it was
approaching day before he felt himself sinking off into easy slumber.

He was awakened by the coming of a stranger into his stall. It was broad
daylight, and he hastily gained his feet, mystified for an instant that
he should be sleeping in broad day, and not a little troub