e that a man has done
murder. Nor yet mailing a letter. Or being young. We knew that man
went through Garfield. That's nothing new. He told us he was going on
to Hillsboro."

"That was a blind, I reckon. He can turn always back, soon as he gets
out of sight," said Hales.

"He went that way," piped the storekeeper. "Mailed a letter here,
bought a shoe and tacked it on his horse. I fished round to find out
who he was, but he put me off. Finally I asked him, p'int-blank. 'You
didn't say what your name was,' says I. 'No,' says he, 'I didn't.' And
off he went, laughing, impydent as hell!"

"Did you notice the brand on his horse?" asked Charlie. "He passed on
our right-hand side, so we didn't see it."

"No, I didn't. He took the Greenhorn road, and he was ridin' middlin'
slow."

"If you had used your mouth less and your eyes more, you might have
something to tell us," sneered Hales.

"Little man on a _grullo_ horse--that's enough for us--we're goin'!"
snapped Caney. "Say, you fellers make me plumb sick! The murderer's
getting away, and all you do is blat. We're goin', and we're goin'
now!"

"Something tells me you won't," said Pete Harkey.

He had mysteriously acquired a shotgun from his buckboard, and he
cocked both hammers with the word. "Not till we talk a little.
According to your tell, the killing was done in Sierra County. That's
my county, and we figure we are plenty competent to skin our own
skunks. Also, we want one good long look before we leap. You three are
the only men who can tell us anything, and we want to know what you
know, so we'll not lose time or make mistakes. We can't afford to
shoot so as to hit if it's a deer and miss if it's a mule. You fellers
are excited. What you need is a head. I'll be head.

"You just calm down a little. I'll be getting a posse together to go
back and look into this. You can be fixing to give us some idea what's
happened. After that, these two boys can go with you. They've seen
this stranger and they'll know him on a fresh horse. All you three
know about his looks is a blue horse. I'm going up where Adam was
killed. Where was it? Don't be nervous about this gun. I never shot a
man accidentally in my life. Where was Adam killed?"

"In Redgate. Near the upper end. We was looking--"

"That's enough. You wait till I send for some friends of mine." Pete
raised his voice. "Girls! Ride over here! Now you folks keep still
till the girls get away. Toad Hales, is it? I've s