“Who is to tell Edith?” said Charlie See, under his breath.
“Someone’s going to hang for this. When we found him—I never had such a shock in my life!” said Jody Weir. “Shot from behind—three times. The powder burned his shirt. Adam never had a chance. Cold-blooded murder. Adam was holding fast to his rifle, wrong side up, just as he pulled it from the scabbard. That man came through here.”
“Or stopped here,” amended Caney. “Might have been a Garfield man, of course. I’ve heard that Forbes was tol’able arbitrary.”
“We met a stranger coming down from Redgate, something like an hour and a half ago,” said Hobby. “But if he had just killed a man, I’ll eat my hat. That man was feeling fine. Only a boy, too. Someone else did it, I guess.”
“And he’d been riding slow. No sweat on his horse,” added Charlie.
“Couldn’t have been anyone else. There wasn’t any other tracks, except the tracks of Adam’s horse. They turned off south as soon as he got out of the mouth of the cañon.”
“How’d you know it was Adam’s horse?” This was Pete Harkey, at the open door.
“Saw where the bridle reins dragged. Say! Any you fellows comin’ with us? That man killed Forbes, I tell you—and we’re goin’ after him. Only about two hours till dark—two and a half at most—and a rain coming up. This is no time for talking. We can talk on the road.”
“Anybody stay with Adam?” asked Pete.
“No. There was just the three of us. We came full chisel after the murderer, hard as we could ride. Come on—get some of your men together—let’s ride,” said Caney impatiently. “Get a wiggle on, can’t you? Let’s find out which way he went and what he looked like. He came here. No chance for mistake. The body was still warm.”