Clinch nodded.
"Well, we better beat it. Quintana's whole gang is in these woods, somewhere, hunting for you, and they might stumble on us here, at any moment." And, to the two men in front: "Lie down flat on your faces. Don't stir; don't speak; or it's you for the sink-hole. … Lie down, I tell you! That's it. Don't move till I tell you to."
Clinch got up from where he was sitting, cast one murderous glance at the prostrate forms, then followed Smith, noiselessly, over the stretch of sphagnum moss.
* * * * *
When they reached the house they saw Eve standing on the steps in her night-dress and bare feet, holding a lantern.
"Daddy," she whimpered, "I was frightened. I didn't know where you had gone——"
Clinch put his arm around her, turned his bloody face and looked at
Smith.
"It's this," he said, "that I ain't forgetting, young fella. What you done for me you done for her.
"I gotta live to make a lady of her. That's why," he added thickly,
"I'm much obliged to you, Hal Smith. … Get to bed, girlie——"
"You're bleeding, dad?"