"Meeker," he said, coming to himself and facing the angry foreman, "I'm quitting to-night. I won't punch no more till I get that Greaser. I take up that trail at daylight an' push it to a finish even if it takes me into Mexico--it's got to be him or me, now." "You don't have to quit _me_ to do that, an' you _know_ it!" Meeker cried. "I don't care if yo're gone for six months--yore pay goes on just th' same. He went down fighting for me, an' I'll be everlastingly condemned if I don't have a hand in squaring up for it. Yo're going on special duty for th' H2, Doc, an' yore orders are to get Antonio. Why, by th' Lord, I'll take up th' trail with you, Doc, an' with th' rest of th' boys behind me. This ranch can go galley-west an' crooked till we get that snake. Dan an' Salem stays with my girl an' to watch th' ranch--th' rest of us are with you--we're as anxious as you to push him Yonder, Doc." "If I can get him alive, get my two hands on his skinny neck," Doc muttered, his fingers twitching, "I'll kill him slow, so he'll feel it longer, so he'll be shore to know why he's going. I want to _feel_ his murdering soul dribble hell-wards, an' let him come back a couple of times so I can laugh in his yaller face when he begs! I want to get him--_so!_" and Chick shuddered as the knotted, steel-like fingers opened and shut, for Doc was half devil now. While Chick stared, the transformed man walked over to the bench and picked up the body in his brawny arms and strode into the blackness--Curley was going to lie in the open, with the stars and the sky and the sighing wind. "God!" breathed Chick, looking around, "I never saw a man like _that_ before!" "I hope he gets what he wants!" exclaimed Dan, fiercely. "You fellers get yore traps ready for a chase," Meeker ordered as he strode to the door of the gallery. "Fifty rounds for six-shooters an' fifty for rifle, an' plenty of grub. It's a whole lot likely that th' Greaser headed for his gang, an' we've got to be ready to handle everything that comes up. Hey, Salem!" he shouted. "Aye, aye, sir!" replied Salem, who had just come in from one of the corrals and knew nothing of what had occurred. "Did you cure that beef I told you to?" demanded the foreman. "Yes, sir; but it ain't had time to cure--th' weather's not been right. Howsomever, I smoked some. That'll be ship-shape." "Well, have it on our cayuses at daylight. Did you cut this beef in strips, or in twenty-pound chunks, like you did th' last?" "Strips, _little_ strips--I ain't trying to sun-cure no more big hunks, not me, sir." Meeker turned and went towards the outer door. "Don't waste no time, boys," he said. "Get all th' sleep you can to-night--you'll need it if I reckon right. Good-night," and he stepped out into the darkness. "D--n them dogs!" he muttered, disappearing in the direction of the kennels, from which came quavering, long-drawn howls. CHAPTER XXVI FRISCO VISITS EAGLE