n I'll shoot first and talk after."

"Same here!" endorsed The Orphan, frowning down his desire to laugh at
the wrecks in front of him.

"I'll kill you next time!" shouted Bill, prancing uneasily.

"The cayuses are yours," continued the sheriff. "I'll settle with Sneed if
he has the gall to ask about them. Now git!"

Tex stared first at the sheriff and then at The Orphan and Bill as if
doubting his ears. He was ten years nearer the grave than he had been
before The Orphan had interrupted his counting. In less than half an hour
he had gone through hell, and now he suddenly burst into tears from the
reaction and staggered to his horse, which he finally managed to mount, a
nervous wreck. "Oh, God!" he moaned, "Oh, God!"

The others stared at him in amazement until he had turned the bend, and
then his companions slowly followed him and were lost to sight.

"D----n near dead from fright!" ejaculated the sheriff. "I never saw
anybody go to pieces so bad!"

"He shore lost his nerve all right, all right," responded The Orphan.
Then he turned to where Bill stood looking after them: "Bill, you're all
right--you can fight like h--l!"

Bill slowly turned and grinned through the blood: "Oh, that wasn't
nothing--you should oughter see me when I get real mad!"

. . . . .

Two men rode side by side after a lurching coach on their way toward the
Limping Water, both buried in thought at what the driver had told them.
As they emerged from the defile and left the Backbone behind, the elder
looked keenly, almost affectionately, at his companion and placed a kindly
hand on the shoulder of the man who had turned the balance, breaking the
long silence.

"Son, why don't you get a job punching cows, or something, and quit your
d----d foolishness?" he bluntly asked.

The younger man thought for a space, and a woman's words directed his
reply:

"I've thought of that, and I'd like to do it," he said earnestly. "But,
pshaw, who will give me a try in this country?" he asked bitterly. Then
he added softly: "And I won't leave these parts, not now."

"You won't have to leave the country," replied the sheriff. "Why not try
Blake, of the Star C?" he asked. "Blake is a shore square man, and he's a
good friend of mine, too."

"Yes, I reckon he is square," replied The Orphan. "But he won't take no
stock in me, not a bit."

"Tell him that you're a friend of mine, and that I sent you to punch for
him,