at it hurts me, but I quit when
it comes to stealin' from the man that's payin' my wages."

"Then I reckon you and me is pardners in this deal," and Pete, boyishly
proffered his hand.

Big Ed Brevoort grasped Pete's hand, and held it till the horses shied
apart. "To the finish," he said.

"To the finish," echoed Pete, and with one accord they slackened rein.
The thoroughbreds reached out into that long, tireless running stride
that brought their riders nearer and nearer to the Ortez rancho and the
Mexican agent of the guerilla captain whose troops were so sadly in
need of beef.

CHAPTER XXVIII

A GAMBLE

On either side of a faint trail rose the dreary, angling grotesques of
the cactus, and the dried and dead stalks of the soapweed. Beyond, to
the south, lay a sea of shimmering space, clear to the light blue that
edged the sky-line. The afternoon sun showed copper-red through a
faint haze which bespoke a change of weather. The miles between the
Olla and that tiny dot on the horizon--the Ortez hacienda--seemed
endless, because of no pronounced landmarks. Pete surmised that it
would be dark long before they reached their destination. Incidentally
he was amazed by the speed of the thoroughbreds, who ran so easily, yet
with a long, reaching stride that ate into the miles. To Pete they
seemed more like excellent machines than horses--lacking the pert
individuality of the cow-pony. Stall-fed and groomed to a satin-smooth
glow, stabled and protected from the rains--pets, in Pete's
estimation--yet he knew that they would run until they dropped, holding
that long, even stride to the very end. He reached out and patted his
horse on the neck. Instantly the sensitive ears twitched and the
stride lengthened. Pete tightened rein gently. "A quirt would only
make him crazy," he thought; and he grinned as he saw that Brevoort's
horse had let out a link or two to catch up with its mate.

The low sun, touching the rim of the desert, flung long crimson shafts
heavenward--in hues of rose and amethyst, against the deep umber and
the purple of far spaces. From monotonous and burning desolation the
desert had become a vast momentary solitude of changing beauty and
enchantment. Then all at once the colors vanished, space shrank, and
occasional stars trembled in the velvet roof of the night. And one
star, brighter than the rest, grew gradually larger, until it became a
solitary camp-fire on the level of the plain.