“Heaven knows. But one thing is certain. If he was not dead the secret may yet reach my ears. If the lasso slipped from its rocks, Deadly Dan will never divulge the secret.”
He silently took the pistol from Myra’s hand and looked at Tom.
“For the present you can mount your horse and go where you please,” he said.
“Honest Injun, jedge? So, you’re goin’ to hang me, boy?”
“I am.”
“You’re a sneakin’ little liar!” came over the gray steed’s ears. “On the contrary, I’m goin’ to make a widow outen thet livin’ doll at yer side, then I’ll leave Cut-throat an’ work a bonanza bigger nor twenty Emma Kings. You heard what that fellow said down in the canyon awhile ago? He war right; the big bonanza ar’ goin’ to hev but one share.”
As the man’s lips quivered with the uttering of the last word, he turned his horse’s head and spurred him away.
Hal, the lyncher, gazed after him like a person just emerging from a trance.
“He’ll try to keep his word!” exclaimed Myra.
“Then you have not guessed,” he said, wheeling upon her. “Tom Terror knows the secret that died with Deadly Dan—if he is really dead. My life is sought for a purpose. Oh, Heaven, what is this mystery?”