“Baker,” said the elder Texan in his guarded undertone, “I’m going to sleep for half an hour.”
“All right,” replied his companion; “I’ll do the same when you wake up.”
Strubell made not the slightest change in his position. He simply turned his head sideways upon his arm, bent at the elbow, and shut his eyes. Almost at the same moment he became unconscious.
The party had not removed their blankets from the backs of the ponies, through fear that it might delay them whenever a sudden movement should become necessary. They were stretched at full length on the grass. In that salubrious country, with its pure, dry air, there was no thought of ill results therefrom.
Herbert was near Lattin, and he asked:
“Will he wake at the end of the half hour?”
“If he don’t I’ll wake him,” replied the other; “but I never knew Ard to vary more’n a minute or two.”
“What do you make of Bozeman’s long absence? Several hours must have gone by.”
“It seems later than it is, but I expected him back before this.”
“How do you account for his delay?”