our
years, an' th' luck a man has always got to hope for, an' you've more'n
jus' a stake--you've got roots an' a spread!"

"_We_ have," Drew corrected. "Why'd you suppose I wanted that foal deal?
There's free land to be had in the valley. Some of the ranchers cleared
out when the Apaches started raidin' and they're not comin' back. We might
look over what Trinfan has picked up as long as we are out here. I know
the Old Man hasn't contracted for anything but gettin' rid of that Pinto
stud. We could make an offer for any good slicks--put the Spur R on them
and run them in on the Range. Rennie has already said that's all right
with him."

"Whoee!" Anse muffled one of the old spirited war yells into a husky
whisper. "You an' me, we're goin' to do it! Ain't nobody can put hobbles
on a pair of Tejanos as has their chewin' teeth fast on th' bit!"

It was something to think about, all right. But future chances should not
take a man's mind off the job immediately ahead. Only tonight, out here,
Drew had a feeling of being able to do anything--from touching the sky with
his uplifted hand to fighting Kitchell man to man. That, however, was just
what Hunt Rennie did _not_ want and what Drew had promised not to do.

Horses to be found back in the rough country, hidden away in the maze of
pocket canyons where there was water and enough browning grass to keep
them from straying. There must be hundreds of places ready to be used that
way. But how come Kitchell could hide out in Apache country? Nothing Drew
knew of that tribe fitted in with the idea of a white outlaw band sharing
their hunting ground unmolested. It had never mattered to an Apache
whether a man rode on the north or south side of the law--if his skin was
white, that automatically made him prey. Drew said so now.

Teodoro answered that. "Apaches want guns, _senor_. Their arrows are
deadly, but guns are always better."

"I'd think," Anse cut in, "that any guns Kitchell'd have he'd be hangin'
on to--needin' them his ownself. Can't be easy for _him_ to git them,
neither."

"Not here, no," Teodoro agreed. "But south, that is different. There is
big trouble in Mexico--this French emperor fights Juarez, so there is much
confusion. In wartime guns can be lost. A party of soldiers are cut off,
as was _Coronel_ Oliveri almost--men can be killed. But a gun--it is not
buried with a man. A gun is still useful, worth money, if he who picks it
up from beside the dead does not want