Night fell on both a dry and fireless camp for the outlaws who had tried to rob the Clarendon-Tascosa stage. They had covered a scant twenty miles instead of the eighty they should have put behind them. For Dave Overstreet had been literally dying in the saddle every step of the way.
He had clenched his teeth and clung to the pommel desperately. Once he had fainted and slid from his seat. But the bandits could not stop and camp, though Dinsmore kept the pace to a walk.
"Once we reach Palo Duro, we'll hole up among the rocks an' fix you up fine, Dave," his companion kept promising.
"Sure, Homer. I'm doin' dandy," the wounded man would answer from white, bloodless lips.
The yellow streak in Gurley was to the fore all day. It evidenced itself in his precipitate retreat from the field of battle--a flight which carried him miles across the desert before he dared wait for his comrades. It showed again in the proposal which he made early in the afternoon to Dinsmore.
The trio of outlaws had been moving very slowly on account of the suffering of the wounded man. Gurley kept looking back nervously every few minutes to see if pursuers were visible. After a time he sidled up to Dinsmore and spoke low.
"They'll get us sure if we don't move livelier, Homer."
"How in Mexico can we move faster when Dave can't stand it?" asked Dinsmore impatiently.
"He's a mighty sick man. He hadn't ought to be on horseback at all. He needs a doctor."
"Will you go an' get him one?" demanded Homer with sour sarcasm.
"What I say is, let's fix him up comfortable, an' after a while mebbe a posse will come along an' pick him up. They can look after him better than we got a chance to do," argued Gurley.
"And mebbe a posse won't find him--what then?" rasped Dinsmore.
"They will. If they don't, he'll die easy. This is sure enough hell for him now."
"All right. Shall we stop right here with him?"
"That wouldn't do any good, Homer. The Rangers would get us too."
"I see. Yore idea is to let Dave die easy while we're savin' our hides. Steve, you've got a streak in you a foot wide."
"Nothin' like that," protested the man with the eyes that didn't track. "I'd stay by him if it was any use. But it ain't. Whyfor should you an' me stretch a rope when we can't help Dave a mite? It ain't reasonable."
Overstreet could not hear what was said, but he guessed the tenor of their talk. "Go ahead, boys, an' leave me. I'm about done anyhow," he said.