“Winged,” was Blake’s sententious response, “but I don’t reckon it amounts to much. Anyway, I’d have been glad to get a bullet through both wrists fer the chance o’ hittin’ Lawless. Mebby I haven’t paid him all up fer the ride he give me on that steer, but I’ve gone a long ways to’rds settlin’ the account.”
Nomad and Wild Bill, having been freed of their ropes, sat up and began rubbing their benumbed limbs.
“Whar’s Buffler?” asked Nomad.
“Thet’s more’n we knows, amigos,” replied Pete. “We ain’t seen him sense yesterday, when you all tripped anchor an’ sailed out o’ Sun Dance.”
“Waal, Pete,” went on Nomad, “ef ye kain’t tell me whar Buffler is, mebbyso ye kin ease my mind some as ter how you an’ Tenny an’ Blake happened ter be eround hyar ter lend Leetle Cayuse a helpin’ hand?”
“We was ridin’ down ther gulch, this mornin’,” went on Pete, “jest ter see what was goin’ on at ther Forty Thieves. Blake allowed he was some cur’ous, an’ I knowed Tenny an’ I was. Jest as we got clost ter ther ore-dump, we seen a slather o’ water, high as the wall of a ’dobie, makin’ a dead-set at us. We climbed out o’ the way, and stood thar ter watch ther flood slam past. While we was lookin’, we seen Cayuse tryin’ ter git out o’ the cañon. Tenny is some punkins at riata-throwin’, so he uncoils his rope an’ draps it over Cayuse’s head; then we hauls Cayuse in, bronk an’ all. We crawled up on the gully wall, a little arter that, an’ seen Lawless an’ his outfit climbin’ up the side o’ the cañon, so we all made a pasear around among the rocks with the intention o’ headin’ the gang off, an’ gittin’ you fellers out o’ their hands. I reckon we done it, hey?”
“I reckon you did, old sport,” said Wild Bill, “and you’ve got our gratitude. They were after our scalps, those fellows, and they’d have taken them before they had carried us far from the cañon. That’s the sort of a duck Lawless is. I’ve been mixed up with him enough so that I know his caliber. Whoosh!” and Wild Bill got up and stretched his arms. “I’m feeling like a back number this trip, Nomad. The way the pair of us was snaked out of that level, leaving pard Cody to take care of himself, is something I’m going to remember with regret as long as I live. I say, Cayuse!”
The boy, who had been standing at the edge of the cañon, turned around.
“Where did all that water come from, do you know?” went on Wild Bill.
“From down-gulch,” said Cayuse.