th
me and make some money, and I'll pay you forty a month and five per cent
bonus on my profits at the end of two years. The first year may not show
any profits, but the second year will. How does it sound to you?"

He had been rolling a cigarette, and now he offered the "makings" to Ed,
who accepted them mechanically, his eyes still staring hard at Bud. He
glanced toward the door and the one little window where wild cucumber
vines were thickly matted, and Bud interpreted his glance.

"Lew and another Catrocker--the one that tried to rope me down in the
Sinks--are dead, and three more are in jail. Business won't be very
brisk with the Catrock gang for a while."

"If you're trying to bribe me into squealing on the rest, you're a damn
fool," said Eddie harshly. "I ain't the squealing kind. You can lead me
over to jail first. I'd rather take my chances with the others." He was
breathing hard when he finished.

"Rather than work for me?" Bud sliced off the sharp point which he had
so carefully whittled, and began to sharpen a new one. Eddie watched him
fascinatedly.

"Rather than squeal on the bunch. There's no other reason in God's world
why you'd make me an offer like that. I ain't a fool quite, if my head
does run up to a peak."

Bud chewed his lip, whittled, and finally threw the splinter away. When
he turned toward Eddie his eyes were shiny.

"Kid, you're breaking your sister's heart, following this trail. I'd
like to see you give her a chance to speak your name without blinking
back tears. I'd like to see her smile all the way from her dimples to
her eyes when she thinks of you. That's why I made the offer--that and
because I think you'd earn your wages."

Eddie looked at him, looked away, staring vacantly at the wall. His
eyelashes were blinking very fast, his lip began to tremble. "You--I--I
never wanted to--I ain't worth saving--oh, hell! I never had a chance
before--" He dropped sidewise on the bed, buried his face in his arms
and sobbed hoarsely, like the boy he was.

CHAPTER NINETEEN: BUD RIDES THROUGH CATROCK AND LOSES MARIAN

"You'll have to show me the trail, pardner," said Bud when they were
making their way cautiously out of town by way of the tin can suburbs.
"I could figure out the direction all right, and make it by morning; but
seeing you grew up here, I'll let you pilot."

"You'll have to tell me where you want to go, first," said Eddie with a
good deal of sullenness still in his voice