[pg 181]
"If we get in trouble and send back for you, will you come?"
"Yes, we'll come. But pull on out now, at once. My men want to travel. We've got our meat slung on lines along the wagons to cure as we move. We'll wait till noon for you."
"It is fair." Price turned to his associates. "Ride back, Kelsey, and tell Wingate we all think we should break camp at once.
"You see," he added to Banion, "he wouldn't even ride over with us. I regret this break between you and him. Can't it be mended?"
A sudden spasm passed across Will Banion's browned face.
"It cannot," said he, "at least not here and now. But the women and children shall have no risk on that account. If we can ever help, we'll come."
The two again shook hands, and the Wingate lieutenants rode away, so ratifying a formal division of the train.
"What do you make of all this, Hall?" asked sober-going Caleb Price at last. "What's the real trouble? Is it about the girl?"