ack, he
gives you a good alibi."

"I sure am glad we took the time to trail that horse, then," Lone
remarked, while Swan was removing the handcuffs. "You're all right,
Swan. Nothing like sticking to an idea till you know it's wrong. Now,
let's stick to mine for awhile. Let's go on to Whisper. It ain't far."

They returned to the rocky hillside where the trail had been covered,
and searched here and there for the tracks of another horse; found the
trail and followed it easily enough to Whisper. Swan put Jack once more
on the scent of the handkerchief, and if actions meant anything, Jack
proved conclusively that he found the Whisper camp reeking with the
scent.

But that was all,--since Al was at that moment trailing Lorraine toward
the Sawtooth.

"We may as well eat," Swan suggested. "We'll get him, by golly, but we
don't have to starve ourselves."

"He wouldn't know we're after him," Lone agreed. "He'll stick around so
as not to raise suspicion. And he might come back, most any time. If he
does, we'll say I'm out with you after coyotes, and we stopped here for
a meal. That's good enough to satisfy him--till you get the drop on him.
But I want to tell yuh, Swan, you can't take Al Woodruff as easy as you
took me. And you couldn't have taken me so easy if I'd been the man you
wanted. Al would kill you as easy as you kill coyotes. Give him a
reason, and you won't need to give him a chance along with it. He'll
find the chance himself."

Because they thought it likely that Al would soon return, they did not
hurry. They were hungry, and they cooked enough food for four men and
ate it leisurely. Jim was at the ranch, Sorry had undoubtedly returned
before now, and the coroner would probably not arrive before noon, at
the earliest.

Swan wanted to take Al Woodruff back with him in irons. He wanted to
confront the coroner with the evidence he had found and the testimony
which Lone could give. There had been too many killings already, he
asserted in his naive way; the sooner Al Woodruff was locked up, the
safer the country would be.

He discussed with Lone the possibility of making Al talk,--the chance of
his implicating the Sawtooth. Lone did not hope for much and said so.

"If Al was a talker he wouldn't be holding the job he's got," Lone
argued. "Don't get the wrong idea again, Swan. Yuh may pin this on to
Al, but that won't let the Sawtooth in. The Sawtooth's too slick for
that. They'd be more likely to make up a ly