holster, for the unmistakable twang of a
bowstring sounded from the bushes above his head. The Texans leaped to
their arms, but Tom stopped them with a cry.

"Wait, boys! That's Hank--my pardner!" He looked up toward the bushes.
"Ye damned fool! Show yerself!"

"Didn't hardly know if 'twar safe," chuckled Hank, his head slowly
arising above the tangle of leaves and vines, a dozen paces from the
place where the bowstring had twanged.

"Whar's that huntin' party ye war nursin'?" quickly demanded Tom.

"Took 'em 'round on t'other side o' th' camp, ast 'em ter hold my hoss,
an' left 'em thar," chuckled the plainsman, making his way down the
hillside with caution and silence that had become habitual.

"Boys," said Tom, "hyar's a 'dopted son o' th' Piegan tribe o' th'
Blackfeet, name o' Hank Marshall, an' he's more Injun than any brave in
th' tribe. Anyhow, I'd ruther have a Injun on my trail than him. He's
goin' with me ter Santa Fe; an' Salezar's shore goin' ter need all his
friends!"

"Put her thar!" said the Texan leader. "If yer lookin' fer help I'll
jine ye, cussed if I won't!"

"Don't want no help that's strange ter Taos an' Santer Fe," laughed
Hank. "We got two Green River boys, an' don't need no more; don't hardly
need them, but Zeb wants his ha'r, an' I wants his ears, ears bein' his
pet joke." He looked at the leader. "You boys run inter some 'Rapahoes?
Thar's nigh onter a dozen projectin' 'round these hills. Stumbled acrost
thar camp a-ways back. If I'd had one o' them newfangled rifles ye got
so many of, danged if I wouldn't 'a' trailed 'em." He grinned
expansively. "They cleaned out a cache o' mine, three year back, up on
Big Sandy Crick, an' I ain't paid 'em fer it yit."

"We shore do need powder an' lead," said the leader thoughtfully. He
turned to one of his men. "Sam, reckon we kin part with pore Williams'
rifle?"

"Seein' as we got three more extrys, reckon we kin," answered Sam. "It
oughter be worth a keg o' powder an' a couple o' pigs o' lead." He
walked over to where their supplies were piled and returned with a heavy
Colt repeating rifle. "Hyar, Hank," he said, handing it to the hunter.
"Be keerful ter keep th' powder from spillin' down 'round th' cap end;
an' don't empty her too fast after th' first few shots. Hyar's th' mold,
an' some caps. Git a Injun ter pay fer pore Williams. She's full loaded,
so look out."

The rifle was sheathed in a saddle scabbard and Hank took it, looked
from it