omply with his wish. She had begun to recover wits
and strength, yet she still felt shaky. She observed that their
position then was on the edge of a well-wooded slope from which she
could see the grassy canyon floor below. They were on a level bench,
projecting out from the main canyon wall that loomed gray and rugged
and pine fringed. Somers and Cotter and Springer gave careful attention
to all points of the compass, especially in the direction from which
they had come. They evidently anticipated being trailed or circled or
headed off, but did not manifest much concern. Somers lit a cigarette;
Springer wiped his face with a grimy hand and counted the shells in his
belt, which appeared to be half empty. Colter stretched his long neck
like a vulture and peered down the slope and through the aisles of the
forest up toward the canyon rim.

"Listen!" he said, tersely, and bent his head a little to one side, ear
to the slight breeze.

They all listened. Ellen heard the beating of her heart, the rustle of
leaves, the tapping of a woodpecker, and faint, remote sounds that she
could not name.

"Deer, I reckon," spoke up Somers.

"Ahuh! Wal, I reckon they ain't trailin' us yet," replied Colter. "We
gave them a shade better 'n they sent us."

"Short an' sweet!" ejaculated Springer, and he removed his black
sombrero to poke a dirty forefinger through a buffet hole in the crown.
"Thet's how close I come to cashin'. I was lyin' behind a log,
listenin' an' watchin', an' when I stuck my head up a little--zam!
Somebody made my bonnet leak."

"Where's Queen?" asked Colter.

"He was with me fust off," replied Somers. "An' then when the shootin'
slacked--after I'd plugged thet big, red-faced, white-haired pal of
Isbel's--"

"Reckon thet was Blaisdell," interrupted Springer.

"Queen--he got tired layin' low," went on Somers. "He wanted action. I
heerd him chewin' to himself, an' when I asked him what was eatin' him
he up an' growled he was goin' to quit this Injun fightin'. An' he
slipped off in the woods."

"Wal, that's the gun fighter of it," declared Colter, wagging his head,
"Ever since that cowman, Blue, braced us an' said he was King Fisher,
why Queen has been sulkier an' sulkier. He cain't help it. He'll do
the same trick as Blue tried. An' shore he'll get his everlastin'. But
he's the Texas breed all right."

"Say, do you reckon Blue really is King Fisher?" queried Somers.

"Naw!" ejaculated Colter, wi