Anse went on, "he could
about put you outta business, _compadre_. There's only one thing to do."

"Such as?"

"Johnny Shannon has got to do some talkin' his ownself. An' we can't wait
too long to invite him to a chin-waggin' party, neither!"

Anse was right. Shannon had only to slip that collection of papers into
the nearest fire and he would put an end to Drew Rennie. Of course Drew
could obtain duplicates of the letters and horse papers from Kentucky, but
that might take months. And he did not know whether the parole could be
reissued from army records. Why, at this moment he could not prove that he
had served in the east with the Army of Tennessee. Let Bayliss come down
on him now and he was defenseless....

"We can't ride tonight," Anse added. "But come first light we give a
look-see here an' then we move--straight back to th' Stronghold an'
Shannon. Also--I'm sayin' this 'cause I think it's good advice, Drew. Now's
th' time you've got to go to th' Old Man an' tell him th' truth, quick as
you can. Sure, I know why you didn't want to claim kin before, but now
you'll have to."

Drew shook his head. "Not now--not with nothing to back up my story.
Shannon could give me the lie direct."

"I'm thinkin' you're showin' less brains than a dumb cow-critter, _amigo_.
But, lissen--I'm backin' your play. Does Shannon cut up rough, he's got two
of us hitchin' a holster steady an' gittin' ready to loose lead."

"No, I'm not goin' to drag you in."

"Yeah--an' I mean yeah! We joined trails a long time back, by that there
mill pond in Kentucky, and we ain't splittin' now. If a storm's walkin' up
on us slow--or comin' fast with its tail up--it's goin' to be both of us
gittin' under or out together."

Drew put on the belt again. His impatience bit at him, but what Anse said
made sense. They had been sent here to do a job and in the morning they
would do it. Then they could ride back to the Stronghold. How he was going
to handle Shannon he had no idea, but that he would have to he was sure.

The first light was a gray rim around the world as they lay flat, training
the glasses Hilario had loaned them on two horses grazing not too far
below.

"Well, that's it. U.S. As big an' plain as th' paint on a Comanche face
an' almost as ugly. Them's army mounts an' I don't see no troopers
hereabouts," Anse said.

Running Fox materialized in his ghostly fashion, and they retraced at a
better speed and less effort the path which had b