“But that feller Premble!”
“Let them both go, señora. We have larger things ahead.”
Mrs. Crump sniffed in uncomprehending disgust; but she gave tacit assent.
The engine of the car began to whir; the whir became a roaring hum, then a deep vibrant thrumming that lifted through the cañon. The car, with its three men, moved away and leaped into speed.
“Hey!” The voice of Gilbert, who had been reading the new location notice, drifted up to them. “Hey! This guy is jumpin’ our claim! He’s posted notices in the name o’ Mackintavers. What the hell!”
“Come up here, Gilbert,” said Coravel Tio, “and keep quiet. We are to hear some news. Ah, Señor Dorales, have you lunched? We are glad to welcome you.”
Dorales did not reply. He did not move, but upon his lips lingered that thin, shadowy smile that was like the stamp of a cruel jeer. Gilbert heavily came up and rejoined the others.
They stood there at the doorway of the shack—Mrs. Crump, Coravel Tio, Gilbert, and Lewis. Facing them stood Abel Dorales; he seemed to be waiting until the automobile should have gotten away beyond pursuit. Already it was a dot, lessening amid a trail of dust. In the bearing of Abel Dorales was a commanding air, a deep significance, a sneering sense of power. He was in no hurry to explain.
The sun beat down in vertical, sickening waves; the heat was suffocating, insufferable. It filled the cañon like an oven. To the left lay the spent horse, panting, loose-tongued, exhausted, unable even to reach the trickle of water below. No other thing moved within sight. Behind and above rose the long hogback that formed the north wall of the cañon. It shut out from view all that lay beyond, all that lay over toward the mountains and the larger cañon that drew out from the mountains to the north.
The ground seemed to radiate heat in shimmering waves. To one side lay the dry and withered body of the rattler Mrs. Crump had killed—what was left by the preying tiny things of the earth. Somewhere among the rocks lay that reptilian head, what was left of it. Inconspicuous it was, unseen, dead jaws agape and long fangs glimmering like needles in the hot, sickening sunlight.