"Did you get him, Kid?" cried Buck from the firing line.
"Nope; got his hat, though—but I shore got Clausen an' all of their cartridges!"
"Can you keep them shells alone?"
"Can I? Wow, ask th' other fellers! An' I'm eating jerked beef—sorry I can't give you some."
"Shut up about eating, you pig!" blazed Red, who was hungry.
"You'll eat hot lead to-morrow, all of you!" jeered a rustler's voice.
Red fired at the sound. "Take yourn now!" he shouted.
"You can't hit a cow!" came the taunt, while other strange voices joined in.
Buck found Red and ordered him to camp to get some sleep before Pete and the others returned, feeling that he and Frenchy were enough to watch. Red demurred sleepily and finally compromised by lying down at Buck's side, where he would be handy in case of trouble. Buck waited patiently, too heavily laden with responsibility to feel the need of rest, and when he judged that three hours had passed began to worry about the men he had sent to camp. Drawing back into a crevice he struck a match and looked at his watch.
"Twelve o'clock!" he muttered. "I'll wake Red an' see how Frenchy is getting on. Time them fellers were back too."