He's real good.
Say, sis, he's goin' to give me all the gold he finds. He said so.
Yep. An' he'll do it. Guess he's good. That's sure why I didn't do
what he told me not to."

He sat blinking up at his sister with impish amusement. Suddenly
something in his expression stirred his sister to alarm. Nor could she
have said how it came to her, or what the nature of the alarm. It was
there undefined, but none the less certain.

"What did he tell you not to do?" she asked anxiously.

"Give him away. Say, here, I'll tell you. It's a dandy yarn. Y'see I
ain't just as other folks are, sis; there's things I ken do, an'
things I ken understand wot other folks can't. Say, I ken trail
like--like a wolf. Well, I guess one day I told Peter I could trail. I
told him I could trail your Will, an' find out wher' he got his
gold."

"And did you?"

The girl's demand was almost a shriek. The boy nodded his bent head
wisely, and his eyes lit with malice.

"And you didn't give him away? You wouldn't--you wouldn't? He's my
husband."

The pleading in his sister's voice was pitiful to hear.

"That's sure what Peter made me promise--or I wouldn't get his gold."

Eve breathed more freely. But her relief was short-lived.

The boy began to laugh. It was a soft chuckle that found no expression
in his face. The sound of it sent a shudder through the harassed
woman.

"No. I didn't give him away," he said suddenly. "Sis, I trailed an'
trailed, an' I found him. Gee, I found him. He was diggin' his
gold, but it was in the hides of cattle, an' with a red-hot
brandin' iron. Gee! I watched him, but he didn't see me. Oh, no, I
took care of that. If he'd seen me he'd sure have killed me. Say,
sis, your Will's a cattle-thief. You've heerd tell of 'em, ain't
you? Do you know what they do to cattle-thieves? I'll tell you.
They hang 'em. They hang 'em slow. They haul 'em up, an' their
necks stretch, an'--an' then they die. Then the coyotes come round
an' jump up an' try to eat 'em. An' they hang there till they stink.
That's how they treat cattle-rustlers. An' Will's a cattle-rustler."

"For God's sake, be quiet!"

The woman's face was terrible in its horror, but it only seemed to
give the boy pleasure, for he went on at once.

"Ther' ain't no use in squealin'. I didn't give him away. I'd like to,
because I'd like to see Will with his neck pulled sure. But I want
Peter's gold, an' I wouldn't get it if I give him away."

"Did you come straight