Jeff muttered silently at himself. He had a plan. If it was desperate, the situation called for desperate measures. But everything depended on surprise. To give Barr the slightest warning would also give him time to shoot Jeff. It went without saying that he would then be able to shoot Pal, and Jeff hadn't the least doubt that Barr would be happy to do both. He forced a laugh.
"It's just nice to see something around here that's not hell-bent to shoot something else."
Barr remained alert. "Whar'd ye get Blazer's dog?"
"Found him over beyond Cressman," Jeff said truthfully. "Do you keep dogs?"
"Houn's," Barr admitted. "Wouldn't pester myself with a no-account dog such as that."
Jeff cast for a way to lull Barr. "Depends on what you want in a dog, wouldn't you say?"
"Could. What do you want?"
Jeff did his best to look like a man who faces a desperate situation, but who was mightily cheered because his dog saw fit to track him down. If he did everything exactly right, and with split-second precision, his plan had at least an even chance of working.
Escape would not solve everything. Pete would still be unpunished and if the Whitneys should meet him, Jeff, again, they would not bother to take him prisoner. They'd shoot on sight. But he could name Johnny Blazer's killer. That would start things, and maybe he'd be able to finish them.
Regardless of what might happen in the future, this was now. Jeff had to get out of the cabin before he could do anything else, but it was as though Barr could read his mind.