the girl below rise from her knees, one hand holding the
blouse to her breast, the other extended, and with strange, repressed,
almost frantic look she swayed toward the door.

"Wal, talk," ordered Colter, harshly.

"Jim, there ain't a hell of a lot," replied Springer; drawing a deep
breath, "but what there is is shore interestin'.... Me an' Somers took
Antonio with us. He left his woman with the sheep. An' we rode up the
canyon, clumb out on top, an' made a circle back on the ridge. That's
the way we've been huntin' fer tracks. Up thar in a bare spot we run
plump into Queen sittin' against a tree, right out in the open.
Queerest sight y'u ever seen! The damn gunfighter had set down to wait
for Isbel, who was trailin' him, as we suspected---an' he died thar. He
wasn't cold when we found him.... Somers was quick to see a trick. So
he propped Queen up an' tied the guns to his hands--an', Jim, the
queerest thing aboot that deal was this--Queen's guns was empty! Not a
shell left! It beat us holler.... We left him thar, an' hid up high on
the bluff, mebbe a hundred yards off. The hosses we left back of a
thicket. An' we waited thar a long time. But, sure enough, the
half-breed come. He was too smart. Too much Injun! He would not
cross the open, but went around. An' then he seen Queen. It was great
to watch him. After a little he shoved his rifle out an' went right
fer Queen. This is when I wanted to shoot. I could have plugged him.
But Somers says wait an' make it sure. When Isbel got up to Queen he
was sort of half hid by the tree. An' I couldn't wait no longer, so I
shot. I hit him, too. We all begun to shoot. Somers showed himself,
an' that's when Isbel opened up. He used up a whole magazine on Somers
an' then, suddenlike, he quit. It didn't take me long to figger mebbe
he was out of shells. When I seen him run I was certain of it. Then
we made for the hosses an' rode after Isbel. Pretty soon I seen him
runnin' like a deer down the ridge. I yelled an' spurred after him.
There is where Antonio quit me. But I kept on. An' I got a shot at
Isbel. He ran out of sight. I follered him by spots of blood on the
stones an' grass until I couldn't trail him no more. He must have gone
down over the cliffs. He couldn't have done nothin' else without me
seein' him. I found his rifle, an' here it is to prove what I say. I
had to go back to climb down off the Rim, an' I rode fast down the
canyon. He's