The day Tex checked the high mesa for tracks or signs they were feeding below and had not been on top for several days. Rain had come and their tracks had been washed out. He had passed on after looking inside Sam’s cabin and noting how it was falling apart from disuse.
The pinto pony trusted Midnight and he had his past experience to make him feel secure in his hideout. But he did not forget the lessons he had learned, and no buck deer was more alert and watchful than he.
Many times Midnight led the pinto around the track he had laid out. They often ran by daylight, around and around, leaping over logs and rocks and pounding in a reckless chase over the rough trail. Midnight could easily outdistance the filly, but he never ran away from her when she dropped behind.
As the days passed, both horses became sleek and fat, but Midnight did not lose his speed or power. He never became lazy, because of the nervous, high spirits which filled him. He was fast coming to the place where he would not be satisfied with the company of one filly, but another season would pass before he was ready to go forth.
In a town below the ridges and wild barrens, behind drab, gray walls old Sam had at last given up the fight. One morning he did not answer early call and they found him lying on his cot peacefully sleeping. He would not stir and seemed not to have the wiry strength that had carried him along. The warden and the doctor came. Sam was taken to the hospital and placed on a white bed. Outside the door of his room the doctor faced the warden.
“The state will not be burdened over a couple of months longer by that old codger,” he said.
“What ails him?” the warden asked.
“What would ail any wild thing that was cooped up in one of your cells?” the doctor asked, then turned abruptly away.
The warden went back to his office and looked into Sam’s file. No one had taken any interest in the case except Tex and he had written only one letter because writing was something he seldom did. The warden put the file away and made a note of what the doctor had said.