over here
las' night, by the looks. But I figgered that we'd best camp whilst we
had water, 'n' take up the trail agin at daybreak. Ain't that about the
way you see it, Luck?"

"Why, certainly," Luck assured him with as much heartiness as his utter
weariness would permit. "Men and horses, we're about all in. If Ramon
was just over the next ridge, I don't know but it would pay to take our
rest before we overhaul them."

"They's grass here, yuh notice," Applehead pointed out. "I'll put the
bell on Johnny, and if Pink'll bobble that buckskin that's allus wantin'
to wander off by hisself, I calc'late we kin settle down an' rest our
bones quite awhile b'fore anybody needs to go on guard. Them ponies
ain't goin' to stray fur off if they don't have to, after the groun'
they covered t'day--now I'm tellin' yuh! They'll save their steps."

There is a superstition about prophesying too boastfully that a certain
thing will or will not happen; you will remember that there is also a
provision that the rash prophet may avert disaster by knocking wood.
Applehead should, if there is any grain of sense in the rite, have
knocked wood with his fingers crossed as an extra precaution, against
evil fortune.

For after they had eaten and methodically packed away the food, and
while they were lying around the cheerful glow of their little campfire,
misfortune stole up out of the darkness unaware. They talked desultorily
as tired men will, their alertness dulled by the contented tinkle-tinkle
of the little bell strapped around the neck of big, bay Johnny,
Applehead's companion of many a desert wandering. That brilliant
constellation which seems to hang just over one's head in the high
altitude of our sagebrush states, held hypnotically the sleepy gaze of
Pink, whose duty it was to go on guard when the others turned in for the
night. He lay with his locked fingers under his head, staring up at one
particularly bright group of stars, and listened to the droning voice
of Applehead telling of a trip he had made out into this country five or
six years before; and soaking in the peace and the comfort which was all
the more precious because he knew that soon he must drag his weary body
into the saddle and ride out to stand guard over the horses. Once he
half rose, every movement showing his reluctance.

Whereupon Weary, who sprawled next to him, reached out a languid foot
and gave him a poke. "Aw, lay down," he advised. "They're all right out
th