s. "I've got to
talk to Anse!"

"He's gone." Rennie's two words did not make sense at first. When they
did, Drew jumped up and caught at the bars.

"Gone? Where?"

"Cleared out--got clean away." Again Spath supplied the information. "Or so
they tell us. He went back to the Stronghold after he broke through our
lines. But when a patrol rode down to get him, he was gone."

"Why?" Drew asked. "Why pick him up?"

"Why? Because he's in this, too!" Spath retorted. "Probably rode straight
to Kitchell's hideout. Now, Mr. Rennie, time's up. The captain authorized
this visit because he thought you might just get something out of the
prisoner. Well, you did: an admission he's been passing under a false
name. We know _what_ he is--a renegade horse thief."

Drew was no longer completely aware of either man. But, as Rennie turned
away, he broke through the mist of confusion which seemed to be enclosing
him more tightly than the walls of the cell.

"Shannon. Where's Shannon?"

Hunt Rennie's head swung around. "What about Johnny?" he demanded.

"He took my papers--out of my belt!" This was probably the worst thing he
could do, to accuse Johnny Shannon without proof.

"What papers, and why should he want them?" If Rennie had been remote
before, now he was as chill as the Texas northers Anse had joked about.

"The parole, the horse papers, some letters...."

"You saw him take them? You know why he should want them?"

Drew shook his head once. He could not answer the second question now.

"Then how do you know Johnny took them?"

How did he know? Drew could give no sane reason for his conviction that it
had been Johnny's fingers which had looted the pocket of papers and
stuffed leaves and grass in their place.

"You'll have to do better than that, kid!" Spath laughed. "You must have
known Shannon was gone, too. By the time he's back from Mexico he won't
need to prove that's a lie."

Drew disregarded the lieutenant's comments--Rennie was the one who
mattered. And in that moment the Kentuckian knew that he had made a fatal
mistake. Why hadn't he agreed to telegraph Kentucky? Now there was no
hope. As far as _Don_ Cazar was concerned, one Drew Kirby could be written
off the list. Drew had made an enemy of the very person he most wanted to
convince. The Kentuckian swung around and walked to the one small, barred
window through which he could see the sun. He walked blindly, trying not
to hear those spurred boots moving out