"I ain't so had as that yet, boys," the patient laughed. "You're
allowed to speak above a whisper. Doc thinks I'll last till night,
mebbe, if I'm careful."

They told him all the gossip of the range-- how young Ford had run off
with Sallie Laundon and got married to her down at the Butte; how
Siegfried had gone up and down the valley swearing he would clean out
Jack Rabbit Run if Steve died; how Johnson had had another row with
Jed and had chosen to take water rather than draw. Both of his
visitors, however, had something on their minds they found some
difficulty in expressing.

Alec Howard finally broached it.

"Arlie told you the names of some of the boys that were in the Squaw
Creek sheep raid. She made a mistake in telling you anything, but
we'll let that go in the discard. It ain't necessary that you should
know the names of the others, but I'm going to tell you one of them,
Steve."

"No, I don't want to know."

"This is my say-so. His name is Alec Howard."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Alec. I don't know why you have told me."

"Because I want you to know the facts of that raid, Steve. No killing
was on the program. That came about in a way none of us could
foresee."