Page:The Trail Rider (1924).pdf/267

 to-day, passed right through the thick of them. I guess there'll not be any trouble over them."

"Lucky for Stott!" said he.

"How did you know Stott was in it, Texas?"

"I knew him by his cussed voice."

"Anybody would that ever heard him twice."

They sat down by the roadside, far from any house. There was no moon, but starlight strong enough to break the density of the night, and a soft wind filled with the spicy ripe scents of drying grasses and blooming flowers in the boundless meadow lands.

"Stott's the first man on my list," she said.

"And mine, too, Fannie."

"He thought he left both of us dead down there on Clear Creek that night, Texas."

"Did that monstrous scoun'rel lift his hand—"

"Here—feel here." She guided his hand to the back of her head, where he felt a strip of adhesive plaster over a long wound.

"The houn' hit you!"

"I tried to go back and turn you loose."

"You pore little lamb! He hit you with his gun, didn't he, Fannie?"

"My horse ran away when I lopped over in the saddle, just sense enough left in me to hang on somehow. I think he shot after me—I think I can remember shots. Anyhow, I fell off after a while,