hanging.

But further bickering was prevented by the doctor. At this moment he
rose almost to the greatness which his associates claimed for him.
Bitter as his feelings were at thus openly being defied and flouted,
he refused to blind himself to the justness of the other's plea. He
even acquiesced with a decent grace, although he refused--as Jim knew
he would--to change his own opinions.

"Hit your trail, boy," he cried, in his large, harsh voice. "Guess you
sure got the rights of a free citizen, an'--good luck."

He rode off; and Smallbones, with a venomous glance back at the
triumphant Jim, started across the river. Jim remounted his horse and
rode off down the river. He glanced back at the retreating party with
the doctor, and sighed his relief. He felt as though he had been
passing through a lifetime of crime, and ahead lay safety.

He did not attempt to push his tired horse faster than a walk, but
continued on until he came to the woods, where he knew Will had sought
shelter; then he off-saddled. He had no intention of proceeding
farther until sundown.

He thanked his stars that he had read Doc Crombie aright. He would
never have dared to bluff a lesser man than he.

And then, having seated himself for rest under a bush, his last waking
thoughts were black with the despair of an honest man who has finally
and voluntarily made it impossible to prove his own innocence.

CHAPTER XXVII

ANNIE

Doc Crombie and his men had returned to Barnriff after a long and
fruitless hunt. Two days and two nights they had spent on the trail.
They had found the haunt of the rustlers; they had seen the men--at
least, they had had an excellent view of their backs; they had
pursued--and they had lost them all four. But this was not all. One of
the boys had been shot down in his tracks by the man they believed to
be the leader of the gang. So it was easy enough to guess their
temper.

The doctor said little, because that was his way when things went
wrong. But the iron possessed his soul to a degree that suggested all
sorts of possibilities. And Barnriff was a raging cauldron of fury and
disappointment. So was the entire district, for the news was abroad,
travelling with that rapidity which is ever the case with the news of
disaster. Every rancher was, to use a local phrase, "up in the air,
and tearing his sky-piece" (his hair), which surely meant that before
long there would be trouble for some one, the nature of whic