The horsemen were upon them. "Murder!" cried Caney. "Adam Forbes has been murdered! Up in Redgate. The murderer came this way. We trailed him to the bridge. His horse had lost a shoe." "Adam Forbes!" "Who is to tell Edith?" said Charlie See, under his breath. "Someone's going to hang for this. When we found him--I never had such a shock in my life!" said Jody Weir. "Shot from behind--three times. The powder burned his shirt. Adam never had a chance. Cold-blooded murder. Adam was holding fast to his rifle, wrong side up, just as he pulled it from the scabbard. That man came through here." "Or stopped here," amended Caney. "Might have been a Garfield man, of course. I've heard that Forbes was tol'able arbitrary." "We met a stranger coming down from Redgate, something like an hour and a half ago," said Hobby. "But if he had just killed a man, I'll eat my hat. That man was feeling fine. Only a boy, too. Someone else did it, I guess." "And he'd been riding slow. No sweat on his horse," added Charlie. "Couldn't have been anyone else. There wasn't any other tracks, except the tracks of Adam's horse. They turned off south as soon as he got out of the mouth of the cañon." "How'd you know it was Adam's horse?" This was Pete Harkey, at the open door. "Saw where the bridle reins dragged. Say! Any you fellows comin' with us? That man killed Forbes, I tell you--and we're goin' after him. Only about two hours till dark--two and a half at most--and a rain coming up. This is no time for talking. We can talk on the road." "Anybody stay with Adam?" asked Pete. "No. There was just the three of us. We came full chisel after the murderer, hard as we could ride. Come on--get some of your men together--let's ride," said Caney impatiently. "Get a wiggle on, can't you? Let's find out which way he went and what he looked like. He came here. No chance for mistake. The body was still warm." "I saw him! I saw him!" cackled the storekeeper. "Little man, smaller than Charlie--and young. About twenty. Came in after you all left," he said, addressing Lull. "Mailed a letter. Ridin' a blue horse, he was--a _grullo_. That the man you met?" "Yes. But riding a blue horse doesn't prove that a man has done murder. Nor yet mailing a letter. Or being young. We knew that man went through Garfield. That's nothing new. He told us he was going on to Hillsboro." "That was a blind, I reckon. He can turn always back, soon as he gets out of sight," said Hales. "He went that way," piped the storekeeper. "Mailed a letter here, bought a shoe and tacked it on his horse. I fished round to find out who he was, but he put me off. Finally I asked him, p'int-blank. 'You didn't say what your name was,' says I. 'No,' says he, 'I didn't.' And off he went, laughing, impydent as hell!" "Did you notice the brand on his horse?" asked Charlie. "He passed on our right-hand side, so we didn't see it." "No, I didn't. He took the Greenhorn road, and he was ridin' middlin' slow."