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 "You'll walk ahead o' me to my raynch," said Old Bill in the same awful voice.

"Cayn't I ride, Mr. Higginson?" asked Prentiss, looking at his pony tied up to a near mesquite. "You cayn't."

"If I cayn't, I cayn't," said Prentiss calmly. "But while I walk I'd like to hev some explanation of why you're doin' thess."

"You'll get it by and by," said Higginson.

Now it's not at all a pleasant thing to walk with an infuriated madman with a shot-gun just behind one, and Billy Prentiss found it wasn't pleasant. However, Higginson had "the deadwood" on him, and there was no choice. It was "walk" or "die," and he knew it. There are times when a man knows this easily, and Old Bill was plain print to read.

"It's sure somethin' about Amandy," thought Prentiss as he marched. "Pore little Amandy! But I'm some surprised! What'll he do? I reckon he'll likely kill me."

It looked very like it. But after half an hour's steady walk the ranch was just ahead