Monty had finished the temporary doctoring of Ranny's wound. "There's your answer to how I got here, right over there," he laughed, pointing to Buck standing patiently in the corner of the pasture, across the road behind the fence. At the noise of the shooting and the crash of the truck when it hit the embankment, Buck had snorted and thrown his head, but he was standing right where Monty had left him.
Laura looked through the hazy moonlight at the big buckskin horse standing where Monty pointed, and she understood. "But how did you get ahead of us? We never saw you anywhere!"
"We cut across the hills and fields. Almost in a straight line, while you were driving that twisty road along on the far side of the hills. But it's all due to Buck," Monty praised. "He's never in his life had to run that fast, that far, and he really came through when it counted. I'm so glad we got here in time."
"You're so glad?" Laura exclaimed. "I thought I'd die when he called you to look at a map, and you'd disappeared into the attic. I knew you didn't have time to make it to the barn when he took me to the truck, and I didn't know how you could help except by calling the police. I thought I was on the way to Mexico with him."
"I just made it to the big oak tree when you came out on the porch, and I had to hide behind it. You passed within about 15 feet of me, but with his gun at your head, I couldn't do anything, which just killed me," Monty explained, "and my delaying tactic with the trailer hitch didn't help any, either. But the moment he moved the truck so the lights weren't on me, I got to the barn, saddled Buck, and he got me here on time, thank god."
"Well, I owe both you and Buck a tremendous deal of thanks for that heroic ride, and what you did here. When that shot shattered the windshield, my first thought was that his gun had gone off inside the truck, but I saw the flame from your gun and saw him knocked back, so I knew he'd been shot," Laura said. "I couldn't imagine who had shot him, and when you jumped down and pulled him out of the truck, I could hardly believe my eyes. I had no idea you could possibly get here so fast - I thought you'd still be back at the ranch, phoning the police."