‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Rex slammed the door in their faces before they had time to tell, I suppose. Then he ran in through my room and fell through the window. I—I guess they thought it was my father; so they took out after him.’
‘Dad didn’t know what it was all about, but he decided to keep away until he could find out; so he took one of their horses and I—I took another.’
‘And all them jiggers went huntin’ young Morgan, eh?’ grinned Noah. ‘I’ll betcha they ruin him before they’re through.’
Lem frowned reflectively, wondering what to do. Then he stepped over to his desk, opened a drawer and took out Peter Morgan’s six-shooter, which he held out to Nan.
‘Didja ever see that gun before?’ he asked.
Nan looked at it, knowing down in her heart that it was the gun Lem had picked up in the corral, but at that time she had paid no attention to the general appearance of the gun.
‘I don’t believe I have,’ she replied calmly.
Lem tossed it back in the drawer, as though dismissing it from the conversation.
‘I reckon we better ride up thataway and see what’s what,’ he said slowly, and turned to Hashknife. ‘Want to go along?’
‘Like to,’ nodded Hashknife. ‘But our broncs are so sore-footed that——’