"Oh, I just made a trade." Garth airily returned. "Thirty feet of clothesline for a Winchester and a bag of cartridges. I threw in a handkerchief to boot. Pretty good, eh?"
Natalie pulled him in by the fire, and made him light his pipe and tell her what had happened.
"Well, I had a hunch Xavier was watching us to-night," he began. "I bore a grudge against Xavier's pretty face, and I thought I'd have a little fun with him, you see."
Natalie glanced up in alarm.
"A fellow would go mad, if he couldn't do anything," Garth apologized. "I'll be good now for a week."
"Xavier?" said Natalie inquiringly.
"I wouldn't have minded a little bit, giving the brute his quietus," Garth said coolly. "He killed my horse. But he had no chance to put up a fight; and I couldn't murder him; so at this present moment he's unhurt—except his feelings. But Grylls will half kill him in the morning!"
"What did you do to him?" she demanded.
"I was pretty sure he would be watching the path we have made to the trail," Garth went on. "I figured he would be on my left hand—his right; it's the position a man instinctively takes. You can't shoot so well over your right. So I crawled along the path, inch by inch on my stomach——"
"Garth!" she cried in horror. "If I had known!"