rence since when! The fact is, I'm running it,
now--that is, to the extent that I'll be damned if you're going to stay
behind and rot in this God-forsaken inferno, while I ride to safety on
your horse."

The smile died from the cowboy's face: "It ain't that, Win. I guess you
don't savvy, but I do. She's yours, man. Take her an' go! There was a
while that I thought--but, hell!"

"I'm not so sure of that," Endicott replied. "Only yesterday, or the day
before, she told me she could not choose--yet."

"She'll choose," answered Tex, "an' she won't choose--me. She ain't
makin' no mistake, neither. By God, I know a man when I see one!"

Endicott stepped forward and shook his fist in the cowboy's face: "It's
the only chance. You can do it--I can't. For God's sake, man, be
sensible! Either of us would do it--for her. It is only a question of
success, and all that it means; and failure--and all that that means.
You know the country--I don't. You are experienced in fighting this
damned desert--I'm not. Any one of a dozen things might mean the
difference between life and death. You would take advantage of them--I
couldn't."

"You're a lawyer, Win--an' a damn good one. I wondered what your trade
was. If I ever run foul of the law, I'll sure send for you, _pronto_.
If I was a jury you'd have me plumb convinced--but, I ain't a jury. The
way I look at it, the case stands about like this: We can't stay here,
and there can't only two of us go. I can hold out here longer than you
could, an' you can go just as far with the horses as I could. Just give
them their head an' let them drift--that's all I could do. If the storm
lets up you'll see the Split Rock water-hole--you can't miss it if you're
in sight of it, there's a long black ridge with a big busted rock on the
end of it, an' just off the end is a round, high mound--the soda hill,
they call it, and the water-hole is between. If you pass the water-hole,
you'll strike the Miszoo. You can tell that from a long ways off, too,
by the fringe of green that lines the banks. And, as for the rest of
it--I mean, if the storm don't let up, or the horses go down, I couldn't
do any more than you could--it's cashin' in time then anyhow, an' the
long, long sleep, no matter who's runnin' the outfit. An' if it comes to
that, it's better for her to pass her last hours with one of her own kind
than with--me."

Endicott thrust out his hand: "I think any one could be proud to