metimes, same as other folks--yup
I picked him."

The Texan frowned: "I'm sorry, Cass. You an' I've be'n friends for a
long while. But--Cass, I'm goin' to get Purdy. If I've got to go to your
hang-out an' fight your whole gang--_I'm goin' to get him!_"

"Help yerself," Grimshaw grinned, "an' just to show you there's no hard
feelin's, I'll let the tail go with the hide--there's three others you
c'n have along with him."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if you don't get him before supper, I'll have to. The four of
'em's got tired of the horse game. Banks an' railroad trains looks
better to them. I'm too slow fer 'em. They're tired of me, an' tonight
they aim to kill me an' Bill Harlow--which they're welcome to if they
can git away with it."

An answering grin twisted the lips of the Texan: "Keep pretty well
posted--don't you, Cass?"

"Where'd I be now, if I didn't? But about this woman business--I told
Purdy to let the women alone--but you can't tell that bird nothin'. He
knows it all--an' then some. Is she your woman, an' how come Purdy to
have her?"

"No, she ain't mine--she's the wife of the pilgrim--the one we didn't
lynch, that night----"

Grimshaw shook his head: "Bad business, Tex--mixin' up with other men's
wives. Leads to trouble every time--there's enough single ones--an' even
then----"

Tex interrupted him: "It ain't that kind of a mixup. This is on the
level. She an' I was on Long Bill's ferry, an' the drift piled up
against us so bad I had to cut the cable. We drifted ashore this side of
Red Sand, an' while I was gone to get some horses, Purdy come along an'
made off with her. I followed an' lost Purdy's trail here in the bad
lands--I was half crazy yesterday, thinkin' of her bein' in Purdy's
clutches--but, today, it ain't so bad. If I find her quick there's a
chance she's safe." He paused and drew from his pocket the folded
hand-bill. "The pilgrim offered a reward, an' Purdy aims to get it."

The other glanced at the bill: "I seen one," he said, gruffly. For a
moment he puffed rapidly upon his cigarette, threw away the butt, and
looked the Texan squarely in the eye: "There's a couple of things about
that bill I've wanted to know. You've told me about the woman part. But
the rest of it? What in hell you be'n doin' to have a reward up fer you?
You spoke a mouthful when you said we'd be'n friends--we're friends yet.
It's a friend that's talkin' to you now--an' one that knows what he's
talkin' about.