e dust soft and flat
and still.

Banks's men came up within an hour to find the ranch-house deserted.
They saw a lantern in the yard below, and near the corral gate they
found the little boy in the darkness, screaming beside his father's
body. The sheriff's men carried the old engineman to the house; others
of the _posse_ crossed the creek during the evening, and at eleven
o'clock Whispering Smith rode down from the south pass to find that
four of the men they were after had taken fresh horses, after killing
Baggs, and passed safely through the cordon Banks had drawn around the
pass and along Deep Creek. Bill Dancing, who had ridden with Banks's
men, was at the house when Whispering Smith arrived. He found some
supper in the kitchen, and the tired man and the giant ate together.

Whispering Smith was too experienced a campaigner to complain. His
party had struck a trail fifty miles north of Sleepy Cat and followed
it to the Missions. He knew now who he was after, and knew that they
were bottled up in the Cache for the night. The sheriff's men were
sleeping on the floor of the living-room when Smith came in from the
kitchen. He sat down before the fire. At intervals sobs came from the
bedroom where the body lay, and after listening a moment, Whispering
Smith got stiffly up, and, tiptoeing to still the jingle of his spurs,
took the candle from the table, pushed aside the curtain, and entered
the bedroom.

The little boy was lying on his face, with his arm around his father's
neck, talking to him. Whispering Smith bent a moment over the bed,
and, setting the candle on the table, put his hand on the boy's
shoulder. He disengaged the hand from the cold neck, and sitting down
took it in his own. Talking low to the little fellow, he got his
attention after much patient effort and got him to speak. He made him,
though struggling with terror, to understand that he had come to be
his friend, and after the child had sobbed his grief into a strange
heart he ceased to tremble, and told his name and his story, and
described the two horsemen and the horses they had left. Smith
listened quietly. "Have you had any supper, Dannie? No? You must have
something to eat. Can't you eat anything? But there is a nice pan of
fresh milk in the kitchen."

A burst of tears interrupted him. "Daddie just brought in the milk,
and I was frying the ham, and I heard them shooting."

"See how he took care of you till the last minute, and left somethi