“It’s—it’s good of you, Mr. Buck,” and the girl glanced at him quickly, then turned to the doorway. “Yes, send for him, please. You—you must excuse me now; I’ll have to be with poor Tia Maria——”
She vanished into the house.
For a moment Buck stood motionless. His gaze followed the tiny dots that were the figures of his puncher and Robinson, and a smile curved his wide lips. Then he glanced down and picked up one of the doughnuts that Robinson had dropped. He regarded it, then bit strongly into it.
“Gosh, these is sure fine doughnuts!” he observed. “I’ll sure be playin’ in luck when Stella comes to cook for me. Lucky catchin’ Robinson thataway, too, y’ understand. And darned lucky Stella didn’t think to look if his gun’d been fired twice. Plumb lucky!”
CHAPTER VI
PROOF
After leaving the Lazy S behind, Robinson rode in silence for some time. He was in the lead. The puncher behind held the lariat which bound Robinson to his horse.
“You got that gun of mine with you?” asked Robinson. No answer from behind. “Well, I seen Buck hand her to you. Be mighty careful with her; she’s got a special easy pull. I’d be right sorry to have you point her my way.”
No answer. The puncher was a sullen brute of a man.
“You fellers made one real mistake,” went on Robinson, undaunted by the silence, his voice cheerful as ever. “You should ha’ fixed that gun o’ mine. Miguel was killed by two bullets, wasn’t he? But that gun ain’t been fired, cowboy. You’d better set that right ’fore turning me in to the sheriff. Otherwise Tracy would have to fix the gun his ownself, and he might forget it.”