The two men who had come out in the buckboard listened to the tale
with expressionless faces. As a matter of fact they had already heard
in Stillwater that no less a person than Ronicky Doone was on his way
toward that village in pursuit of a man who had ridden off on the
famous bay mare, Lou. But they accepted Ronicky's bland version of the
accident with perfect calm and with many expressions of sympathy. They
would have other things to say after they had deposited the wounded
man in Stillwater.

The trip in was a painful one for Bill Gregg. For one thing the
exhaustion of the long three days' trip was now causing a wave of
weariness to sweep over him. The numbness, which had come through the
leg immediately after the shooting, was now replaced by a steady and
continued aching. And more than all he was unnerved by the sense of
utter failure, utter loss. Never in his life had he fought so bitterly
and steadily for a thing, and yet he had lost at the very verge of
success.




Chapter Three


_At Stillwater_

The true story was, of course, known almost at once, but, since
Ronicky Doone swore that he would tackle the first man who accused him
of having shot down Bill Gregg, the talk was confined to whispers. In
the meantime Stillwater rejoiced in its possession of Ronicky Doone.