"We had some plunder--grub and a blanket apiece tied behind our saddles, and we dumped it, to ride light, where we found Adam--just kept our slickers," said Caney. "Have 'em bring 'em in, will you, Harkey?" "Sure," said Pete. IX "This to the crowd--speak bitter, proud and high, But simply to your friend--she loves you not!" --_Le Bret--who scolds._ The five pursuers rode swiftly, with inquiry at several farms about the man on the blue horse. Some had seen him; some had not. He had been riding slowly and he had kept the main road to Greenhorn. They took the Greenhorn Island ford and found good swimming. The quarry had passed through Donahue's an hour and a half before, taking the road to Arrey. They pushed on furiously. See and Lull fell behind a little. "Say, this is a rotten deal!" said Charlie. "That man ain't running away. Not on your life. He no more killed Adam Forbes than I did. You know how long ago we met him. If he was the man that built that branding fire, how does it happen the ashes were still hot when these fellows found it? By their tell and our timing that was near three hours later. We met him about three; if he made that fire it couldn't have been later than two o'clock, by the looks of his horse. And he's keeping the same steady gait, and going straight for Hillsboro, just as he told us. We're gaining on him right along. He's not trying to get away. Either he's innocent or he's got the devil's own nerve." "Innocent. Pete thinks so, too. This crowd tells a fishy story. Did you notice how prompt Caney was to explain why they was there, and why they went down Redgate, and why the stranger shot Adam, and how Adam gave him a chance to shoot him in the back? Always Caney! Say, Hob, that man was too willing by half!" "And that excitement. I wasn't surprised at Jody, and I don't know this man Hales--but wouldn't you think Ed Caney had seen enough men killed not to fight his head like that? He didn't have much use for Adam, either. Adam backed him down once. It was kept quiet, but Anastacio told me, on the dead. It tickled Anastacio. No, sir--those three fellows acted like they might be wishin' to start a stampede. I'm not satisfied a little bit." "A grudge? But if one of these ducks is in, they're all in. This is something else. Or of course it may have been some other person altogether, and these people may have merely lost their heads. Do you reckon that placer hunt of Adam's might have had anything to do with it? Poor old Adam! We'll find time to grieve for him after we get the man that rubbed him out." "I can't hardly realize it. It won't come home to us till we've seen him, I expect. I keep saying it over to myself--'Adam's dead'--but I don't believe it. And only last night Edith sang that nightingale song after him--poor kid! Say--look at that, will you? You'd think Caney didn't dare trust us to talk together." Caney dropped back to them.