He made himself another cigarette, and sat quiet for a time, staring off across the red waste. “We may as well go back to camp,” he said, rising abruptly. “There is no sign of men, mounted, afoot, or otherwise, that I can see.” Back by our saddles and pack layout, Barreau divided the blankets and showed me how to fold mine to make the most of them. Thankfully I bedded myself in a shaded place, but he, before following my example, unslung from his saddle the rifle he had procured of Montell. He looked it over, snapped the lever forward and back, slid another cartridge or two into the magazine. This done, he laid it by his blankets. “I grudge the Police my two good nags, and my Winchester,” he remarked, as he drew off his boots. “What extra weapons Montell had were stowed in a wagon, and I had no time to hunt for them. So we will have to make shift with one rifle—for a while, at least. For that matter, unless we run foul of some young bucks prowling for a scalp, one gun will serve as well as two. If you elect to take a different trail, the best I can give you will be an ancient derringer and a scant number of cartridges. But I am inclined to think we will not part company, yet a while.” He sat upon his blankets, regarding me with a measuring air; and I, from my comfortable position, answered drowsily: “I have a full stomach, a clear conscience, and a tired body; and I am going to sleep right now, if I never travel another trail.” He laughed softly. Whether he said anything further, I do not know. I was too near worn out to care. My last, faint impression was of him sitting cross-legged on his blankets, emitting sporadic puffs of smoke, and looking at me with his black brows drawn together. And the next thing I remember was a tang of wood-smoke in my nostrils. I sat up and stared about, puzzled at first, for I had slept like a dead man. Twilight wrapped the butte. Barreau was bent over a small fire, cooking supper. “Oh,” he said, looking around, “you’ve come alive, at last. I was about to wake you. The chuck’s ready.” I washed in the trickle of water that ran away from the spring, and felt like a new man. As to eating, I was little short of ravenous. Never had food made such an appeal to my senses. When the meal was over Barreau settled back against his saddle. “There will be a moon somewhere near midnight,” he declared. “We’ll move then. After to-night we can travel without cover of the dark. Meantime, lend me your ears, Robertus. Let us see where we stand.” “Fire away,” I replied. “I am pretty much in the dark—in more ways than one.”