Page:Stewart Edward White--The Rose Dawn.djvu/357

Rh "Oh, you're not going to get away," replied Shotwell, grimly. "We're responsible for your appearance this evening; and you're going to appear! It's some few miles to the nearest house—except some of our ranch houses; the country is open; and there will be men on watch. Try to get away, if you think it will amuse you: you have my permission."

"Thanks," returned Boyd dryly, "but I'm too heavy for all that foot work. Besides, I'd rather like to be here this evening. I may have a word to say myself."

"That'll be all right," Shot yawned prodigiously. "Suit yourself. I'm going to turn in for a snooze. Want me to show you where you bunk?"

Corbell's trap drew in about four o'clock, followed shortly by two horsemen. Boyd who had awakened refreshed and was taking a cigar under the big cottonwood trees up the creek, saw them dismount and disappear in the ranch house. He smiled sardonically. The time for a show down had come. They would find with whom they had to deal. He was in no hurry: let them come to him.

But they did not come to him. He finished his cigar; then, making up his mind, he started off briskly down the road. He could make the stage station in about three hours, he figured, provided he was not prevented. Boyd did not really expect to accomplish an escape, but he was grimly amused to determine how much rope he was to be allowed: About a mile down the road he turned off into the sagebrush and across country in the general direction of the stage station. He came to a bare knoll wooded on top. Struck with an idea, he circled this, climbed rapidly on the far side to the summit, and there advanced cautiously through the low growth until he could look back. The rolling countryside lay spread before him, bathed in the yellow light of late afternoon. The scattered oaks and patches of sagebrush stood out with stereoscopic clearness. Boyd scanned very foot carefully. Nothing moved, save strings of cattle sauntering placidly in the direction of water. For ten minutes Boyd lay there waiting for something to appear. Nothing did. Then he arose and walked on briskly. It was incredible, but it actually seemed as though his abandoning of the road had set