"He appears to be rather badly hurt; not seriously, I think, but the
man is unconscious, and in no condition to be removed," he said,
managing to hold his voice to a strange quiet. "I consider myself his
prisoner, and shall remain with him until he becomes fit to travel.
Farnham, I do not acknowledge your deputyship, and if you attempt to
arrest me it will be at your peril. There are four of us here against
you, but we 'll give you a chance--go back to your own! Not a word, if
you care to live! Go, damn you--go!"
They stood and watched him, until his slender figure disappeared behind
the fringe of cedars. Then Hicks and Winston, neither man speaking a
word, tenderly lifted the wounded sheriff from off the rocks, and bore
him back into the shelter of the cabin.