Page:Allan Dunn--Dead Man's Gold.djvu/130

116 nicked, 'stead of sticking him in the back. I had a reason fer thet. Ye see these young bucks had trail fever like they allus do this time of year. They're off the reservation without leave. Now they've started somethin', they'll want to git the old bucks lined up with 'em. They'll spring a rare yarn for them an' the shamans an' the gels an' squaws to listen to. Come nightfall, some of 'em 'll go streakin' it back for the reservation while the rest ride herd on us. And they'll take the hamstrung chap back with 'em. The old warriors 'll recognize thet slash as the brand of an old-timer. Thet's what the whites used ter do in the early days. It makes a good Indian out of a bad one, pronto, an' keeps him alive, as a sort of universal reminder not to monkey with a white man or a buzzsaw. The old bucks savvy thet an old-timer prob'ly didn't start the ructions an' they may call off the young uns. Or they may not. Come nightfall we'll snook up the cañon an' hit the mesa. If they find them burros! …"

"Hell, they've sighted 'em ennyway!" he exclaimed, and scrambled over the crumbling wall, taking position flat on his stomach in the cave entrance, Larkin and Stone following. Healy remained in the cave, well behind the protecting wall. A yell of triumph sounded up-cañon, followed by another. "Got to stop 'em with those burros, we need the grub an'—here they come!" cried Harvey. The yells of the Indians increased. Four or five of them came galloping out of the cottonwoods by the little stream. Then came a burro, frantic, herded by two