down," he whispered, and raised
his revolver, but before he could shoot, the thing disappeared.

At this point the canyon walls began to grow less steep, and Dick
Winters had taken advantage of the sloping, shelving side to make a
zigzag trail to the summit, in some places blasting the solid rock,
and in others building out the pathway with great stones. Nick and Tom
followed the path to the mountain side above, where little pools of
dried blood made a trail which showed the way a wounded man had taken.
A little farther they found the body of Bill Haney, flat on its face,
with arms spread out on either side. A coyote slunk away as they
appeared, dragging its hinder parts uselessly.

"I reckon that's the one Bill Frank thought he killed," said Nick, as
he put a bullet through its head.

They turned the body of Bill Haney over on its back and regarded it
silently for some moments.

"Tommy," said Nick, "we ought to put these poor devils where the
coyotes can't get 'em."

Tom looked away with disfavor in his face. "They might have got
Emerson into a hell of a scrape. Suppose anybody but us had found
Wellesly the other day! Everybody would have believed that Emerson had
ordered these two measly scamps to do what they did!"

"That's so," Nick replied, "but that's all straight now, and they are
past doin' any more harm, and it ain't a square deal to let a fellow
be eat up by coyotes."

Tom looked down into the dead, staring eyes and soberly replied: "I
guess you're right, Nick, and I sure reckon Emerson would say we ought
to do it."

They carried both bodies to the bottom of the canyon and up the bloody
trail until they came to a steep-sided, narrow chasm which yawned into
the wider gulch. There they put their burdens down, side by side, and
decently straightened the limbs, folded the hands, and closed the eyes
of the two dead men.

"Now," said Nick, "we'll pile rocks across the mouth of the gulch, and
then they'll be safe enough, for no coyote is going to jump down from
the top of these walls."

Tom made no answer. He was standing with his hands in his pockets
looking at the two bloody, mangled corpses.

"Nick, don't you-all think we'd better say something over these
fellows, too? It ain't the square deal to put 'em away without a word,
even if they were the worst scrubs in creation. You-all better say
something, Nick, like you did before."

Tom took off his hat, without even a glance at his companion, and be