the woman, an' if the Texan should of got to
shore, it's just as well to have everyone huntin' him."

"I ain't got no horse," objected the ferryman.

"Drift down the river till you come to a coulee with two rock pinnacles
on the left hand side. Go up it till you come to a brush corral, there's
two horses in there, an' a saddle an' bridle is cached in a mud crack on
the west side. Saddle up one of 'em, an' be sure you put him back or
Cass Grimshaw'll make coyote bait out of you."

As Purdy watched Long Bill disappear down the river, he rolled a
cigarette: "If I c'n double-cross the pilgrim, I will," he muttered, "if
I can't, back she goes to him. Five thousan' is a higher price than I'll
pay fer luxeries like women. Anyhow there's McWhorter's gal left fer
that. An' seein' there ain't no one else in on this but me, I'll just
duck the hang-out, an' take her over to Cinnabar Joe's. Him an' his
woman'll keep her safe--or he'll do time. Them's the only kind of
friends that's worth a damn--the ones you've got somethin' on." And
having thus unburdened himself he proceeded leisurely toward the scrub.

Alice Endicott returned slowly to consciousness. Her first sensation was
one of drowsy well-being. For some minutes she lay while her brain
groped in a vague, listless way to find itself. She and Win were going
West--there was a ranch for sale--and ... she suddenly realized that she
was uncomfortable. Her shoulders and hips ached. Where was she? She
felt cold. She tried to move and the effort caused her pain. She heard a
sound nearby and opened her eyes. She closed them and opened them again.
She was lying upon the ground among trees and two horses stood a short
distance away. The horses were saddled. She tried to raise a hand to her
eyes and failed. Something was wrong. The recollections of the night
burst upon her with the suddenness of a blow. The river--the lightning
and drenching rain, the frantic bailing of the boat, the leap into the
water with the Texan! Where was he now? She tried to sit up--and
realized that her hands and feet were tied! Frantically she struggled to
free her hands. Who had tied her? And why? The buckskin horse she
recognized as the one she had ridden the night before. The Y Bar brand
showed plainly upon his flank. But, where was she? And why was she tied?
Over and over the two questions repeated themselves in her brain. She
struggled into a sitting posture and began to work at the knots. The
tying had