he knew the customs of
the cattle country too well to think the matter ended there. He must
hereafter shoot or be shot. If these men met him again he must disable
them instantly or die. "Hadn't I better just keep right on riding?" he
kept asking some sense within him, but decided at last to return to
Delmar.

It was deep night when he reached the camp, and his horse was covered
with foam. Delmar was sitting by the camp fire as he came in from the
dark.

"Hello, boy, what's up?"

Mose told him the whole story in a few incoherent phrases. The old man
examined and dressed his wound, but remained curiously silent throughout
the story. At last he said: "See here, my lad; let me tell you, this is
serious business. I don't mean this scratch of a bullet--don't you be
uneasy about that; but this whole row is mine. They haven't any grudge
against you, but you're a sheep herder for me, and that is bad business
just now. If you've killed a man they'll come a-rippin' up here about
daylight with a warrant. You can't get justice in this country. You'll
face a cowboy jury and it'll go hard with you. There's just one thing to
do: you've got to git right close to where the west winds come from and
do it quick. Throw the saddles on Bone and Rusty, and we'll hit the
trail. I know a man who'll take care of you."

He whistled a signal and one of the herders came in: "Send Pablo here,"
he said. "Now, roll up any little trinkets that you want to take with
you," he said a few minutes later as they were saddling the two
bronchos. "You can't afford to stay here and face this thing; I had no
business to set you on the wrong side. I knew better all the time, but I
liked you, and----"

The herder came in. "Pablo, I'm going across country on a little
business. If anybody comes asking for me or Mose here, say you don't
know where we went, but that you expect us back about noon. Be ready to
shoot to-day; some of these cowboys may try to stampede you again while
I'm gone."

"You better stay and look after the sheep," began Mose as they started
away, "you can't afford----"

"Oh, to hell with the sheep. I got you into this scrape and I'll see you
out of it."

As they galloped away, leading Mose's worn pony, Delmar continued:
"You're too young to start in as a killer. You've got somebody back in
the States who thinks you're out here making a man of yourself, and I
like you too well to see you done up by these dirty cow-country lawyers.
I'm goi