"Now, d----n yu!" he cried, brokenly, staggering to the helpless man before him. "Now mebby yu'll talk! Why did yu help Th' Orphant? If yu lie yu'll swing!" Bill swayed and his eyes opened, and after an interval he slowly and wearily made reply, for his senses had returned again. "He saved my life," he said, "and I'll help--anybody for that." "Oh, he did, did he?" jeered Tex. "An' why? That ain't his way, helpin' strangers at his own risk. Why?" "There was women--in the coach." "Oh, there was, hey?" ironically remarked Tex. "Mebby he wanted 'em all to himself, eh?" "He's a white man, not a cur." "He's a cub of th' devil, that's what he is!" Tex cried. "He ain't no orphant, not by a d----d sight--th' devil's his father, an' all hell is his mother. Now, I want an answer to this one, and I want it quick: no lie goes. Why don't th' sheriff get busy an' camp on his trail? What interest has th' sheriff an' Th' Orphant in each other? Come on, out with it!" "I don't know," replied Bill, wishing that the sheriff was at hand to make an appropriate answer. "Ask him, why don't you?" he asked, stretching his neck to ease the hairy, bristling clutch of the lariat. "Oh, yu don't, an' yore still cheeky, eh?" cried the inquisitor. "An' yu want yore d----d neck stretched, do yu?" He motioned to the man on the horse at the end of the rope and Bill straightened up and daylight showed under his heels. As he struggled there was an interruption from the man who covered the back trail: "'Nds up!" he cried. "Don't move!" Tex signalled for Bill to be let down and ran backward to the opposite side of the defile until he could see around the turn; and he discovered the sheriff, who sat quietly under the gun of the cowboy. "Stop! Don't yu even wiggle!" cried the guard. "I'll blow yore head off at the first move!" he added in warning; and for once in his eventful life Shields knew that he was absolutely helpless, for the time, at least. His hands were clasped over his sombrero, for it would be tiresome to hold them out, and he felt that he might have need of fresh, quick muscles before long. "All right, all right, bub," he responded in perfect good nature, apparently. "Don't get nervous and let that gun go off, for it's shore your turn now," he added, smiling his war smile. "Any particular thing you want, or are you just practicing a short cut to eternity?" "I want yu to stay just like yu are!" snapped the man with the drop. "And yu keep yore mouth shut, too!" "Since it's your last wish, why, it goes," replied the sheriff, ignoring the command for silence. "Got any message for your folks? Any keep-sakes you'd like to have sent back East? Give me the address of your folks and I'll send them your last words, too." "That's enough, Sheriff," said Tex, moving cautiously forward behind his leveled Colt. "I'll do all th' talkin' that's necessary; yu just listen for a while."