"Dable Chaval--huh, that's a hell of a name," Toothpick grumbled. "Reckon we'll have to wait until he comes to again. Will he live?" "Certain--then he'll talk." Dutchy was positive. "When he does I'm aimin' to start gunnin' for the gent what murdered that woman," Toothpick cried savagely. "Me, too," Dutchy said quietly. They covered the wounded man with a blanket and once more continued their search of the surrounding bushes. Fifteen minutes later, just as they had decided there was nothing more to be found, a voice hailed them from the darkness. "Hey, Dutchy, what's goin' on here?" the voice asked. At the sound of the summons, both Toothpick and Dutchy instinctively leaped for cover. Recognition of the voice brought them to an abrupt halt. "Huh, it's the sheriff," Toothpick said with a shamefaced grin. Dutchy nodded and lowered the hammer of his rifle. Three riders materialized from the darkness and entered the circle of light cast by the smoldering ruins. Tom Powers, the sheriff, came first. He was followed by his deputy, "Silent" Moore, and Sam Hogg, a wiry little man of fifty. Tom Powers was a slender man of thirty. His face was gaunt, bony, and burned a brick red by the sun. At first his face looked hard, but his deep-set blue eyes told the character of the man. There was no hardness there, only force. He cast one quick glance at Dutchy's grim face and sensed the tragedy. "Where's the Courfays?" he asked. "Scattered about." Dutchy waved his hand. Sam Hogg was good-natured and was forever cracking jokes. He now joined in. "You two boys sure scattered yourselves when you heard us shout," he said, chuckling. "You acted skittish, like a pair of heifers just out of school." A second later his mirth came to an abrupt end when he saw the sheriff, who had dismounted, kneel beside the body of the mutilated man. He swore excitedly and joined the sheriff. Toothpick briefly told what he knew of the tragedy. He led them first to the body of the woman, then to where the unconscious man lay. The man was muttering in delirium. The sheriff kneeled beside him and listened, but after a moment he arose to his feet and shook his head. "Can't catch a word. I know him, though--he was a brother of the woman over there and came from across the border to visit last week," the sheriff explained. "He was talkin' when we----" Toothpick began, but Dutchy brought his words to an abrupt halt by kicking him in the shins. "Somebody comin'!" Dutchy warned in a low voice. They listened and heard the noisy hoofs of a pair of horses and the crunching of wheels. A minute later two men in a buckboard drove up. The sheriff and Sam Hogg walked forward to greet them. Dutchy drew Toothpick aside. "Some day yuh'll dig yuhr grave with yuhr tongue," he growled. "Don't tell no one that that gent talked to us private." "But he didn't say nothin' I could understand," Toothpick protested. "Maybe the Lava Gang wouldn't believe yuh," Dutchy said grimly.