"I reckon we're ready."
Under orders from Elliot, Dud fixed up the smudges and arranged the mosquito netting over the bound men so as to give them all the protection possible.
"We're going to take Dud with us for a part of the trip. We'll send him back to you later in the day. You'll have to fast till he gets back, but outside of that you'll do very well if you don't roll around trying to get loose. Do that, and you'll jar loose the mosquito netting. You know what that means," explained Gordon.
"It ain't likely any grizzlies will come pokin' their noses into camp. But you never can tell. Any last words you want sent to relatives?" asked Gideon Holt.
The last words they heard from Big Bill as they moved down the draw were sulphuric.
"Macy he ain't wearin' any W. J. Bryan smile this glad mo'nin'," mused old Holt aloud.
It was three o'clock in the morning by the watch when they started. About nine they threw off for breakfast. By this time they were just across the divide and were ready to take the down trail.
"I think we'll let Dud go now," Elliot told his partner in the adventure.
"Better hold him till afternoon. Then they can't possibly reach us till we get to Kamatlah."
"What does it matter if they do? We have both rifles and have left them only one revolver. Besides, I don't like to leave two bound men alone in so wild a district for any great time. No, we'll start Dud on the back trail. That grizzly you promised Big Bill might really turn up."