Page:BM Bower - Her Prairie Knight.djvu/169

 "Yep," the fellow laughed recklessly. "You can tell your maw yuh met up with Kelly, the darin' train-robber. I wouldn't be s'prised if she close-herded yuh fer a spell till her scare wears off. But I've hung around these parts long enough. I fooled them sheriffs a-plenty, stayin' here. Gee! you're swift—I don't think!" This last sentence was directed at Keith, who was putting a snail to shame and making it appear he was in a hurry.

"Git a move on!" commanded Kelly, threatening with his eyes.

Keith wisely made no reply—nor did he show any symptoms of haste, despite the menacing tone. Slowly he pulled his saddle off Redcloud, and carefully he placed it upon the ground. When a fellow lives in his saddle, almost, he comes to think a great deal of it, and he is reluctant under any circumstances, to surrender it to another; to have a man deliberately confiscate it with the authority which lies in a lump of lead the size of a child's thumb is not pleasant.

Through Keith's brain flashed a dozen impracticable plans, and one that offered a slender—a very slender—chance of success. If he could get a little closer! He moved over beside Rex and, 165