"You kiss the bride, or I take it pussenel," said Allen, thoroughly aroused.
"Well, if you put it that way, I'll do it," gasped Slim, in desperation.
The agreement restored the boys to their good nature.
"You will have to put blinders on me, though, and back me up," cautioned Hoover.
"We'll hog-tie you and sit on your head," laughed Sage-brush, as the guests entered the house.
CHAPTER VI
A Tangled Web
After fording Sweetwater River several times to throw pursuit off the track, Buck McKee and Bud Lane entered an arroyo to rest their mounts and hold council as to their future movements. During the flight both had been silent; McKee was busy revolving plans for escape in his mind, and Bud was brooding over the tragic ending of the lawless adventure into which he had been led by his companion. When McKee callously informed him that the agent had been killed in the encounter, Bud was too horrified to speak. A dry sob arose in his throat at the thought of his old friend lying dead, all alone, in the station. His first impulse was to turn back to Florence and surrender himself to the Sheriff. Had this entailed punishment of himself alone, he would have done it but he still retained a blind loyalty in his associate and principal in the crime. Murder, it seemed, was to be expected when one took the law in his own hands to right an injustice. He didn't clearly understand it. It was his first experience with a killing. The heartlessness of McKee both awed and horrified him. Evidently the half-breed was used to such actions. It appeared to be entirely justified in his code. So Bud followed in dull silence the masterful man who had involved him in the fearful deed.
When they dismounted, however, his pent-up emotion burst forth.