e...."

The words ran into a murmur and Cabenza could hear no more.

The messenger was dismissed. Cabenza stooped to tie a loose lace in his
shoe. Pasquale and Culvera passed back from the end of the porch into
the house. As they went the trooper heard another stray fragment in the
voice of the general.

"If Harrison crosses the line after him at night...."

That was all, but it told Cabenza that Harrison was negotiating with
Lennox for the delivery of Yeager in exchange for Threewit and Farrar.
The leading man was, of course, playing for time until Steve, under the
guise of Cabenza, could arrange to win the freedom of the prisoners.

This would take time, for success would depend upon several dove-tailing
factors. To attempt a rescue and to fail would be practically to sign
the death-warrant of Farrar and Threewit.

Yeager, alias Cabenza, returned to the stable where he and a score of
patriots of the Northern Legion had sleeping-quarters. He would much
have preferred to take his blankets out into the pure night air and to
bed under the stars. But he was playing his part thoroughly. He could
not afford to be nice or scrupulous, for fear of calling special
attention to himself.

As for the peons beside him, they snored peacefully without regard to
the lack of cleanliness of their bedroom. The first day of his arrival
Yeager had knocked a hole in the flimsy wall and had given it out as
the result of a chance kick of a bronco. This served to let air into a
building which had no other means of ventilation. It also allowed some
small percentage of the various concentrated odors to escape.

The Arizonian was a light sleeper. But like some men in perfect trim he
had the faculty of going to sleep whenever he desired. Often he had
taken a nap in the saddle while night-herding. Fatigued from eighteen
hours of wrestling the cattle to safety through a bitter storm, he had
learned to fall easily into rest the instant his head hit the pillow. It
was a heritage that had come to him from his rugged, outdoor life. So he
slept now, a gentle, untroubled slumber, until daylight sifted through
the hole in the wall at his side.

He was on duty that day herding the remuda, and it was not until late
afternoon that he returned to camp. From a distance, dropping down into
the draw which formed the location of the town, he saw a dust cloud
moving down the street. At the apex of it rode a little bunch of
travelers, evidently just in from