“Ask the boys t’ leave that bunch of grub alone. Yuh came out here t’ take it away from me, but yuh landed bigger game than tryin’t’ starve a shepherd.”
“No, by ——!” interrupted the one called Slim. “We aim to bust up this —— sheep business, and starvation is better than bullets.”
“There’s a woman t’ starve,” Skeeter Bill reminded him.
Slim hesitated and shrugged his shoulders.
“We’ll let the grub alone,” nodded Freel. “A few days more or less won’t ruin the cow-business, I reckon.”
Slim favored Freel with a black look, but at this moment the two cowboys came back with the evidence and gave it to Freel.
“My bronc will pack double, Andy,” said Freel to one of the cowpunchers. “You ride behind me, and the prisoner will ride your horse.”
“Awright.”
Andy did not relish this arrangement, but swung up behind the sheriff, and the cavalcade moved back toward town.
Skeeter glanced back toward the shack, where the ancient gray was still standing wearily before the open door, waiting for some one to unhitch him.