"For killin' Rutherford Wadley last month."
"A mistake. Tony has been here since the full of the moon."
"Oh, no. He was at the dance on Tomichi Creek. He tried to knife young Wadley. He left the house right after him."
"I left--sí, señor--but to come here," cried the accused man.
"To follow Wadley, Tony. You jumped a camper that night an' didn't know it. He saw you."
"Wadley was a dog, but I did not kill him," Alviro said gloomily.
"That so? You were on the spot. You left tracks. I measured 'em. They were the same tracks you left out in the corral five hours ago."
Tony's eyes flashed with a sudden discovery. "The mud--you meex it to get my footprints."
"You're a good guesser."
Alviro threw up his hands. "I was there. It iss true. But I did not kill the gringo dog. I was too late."
"You can tell me all about that on the way back."
"If I go back they will hang me."
"You'll get a fair trial."
"By a gringo jury before a gringo judge." The tone of Alviro was more than skeptical. It was bitter with the sense of racial injustice.
"I can't argue that with you, Tony. My business is to take you to Tascosa. That's what I'm here for."
The American behind the bar spoke again. "Listens fine! He's a Mexican, ain't he? They claim he killed a white man. Well, then, the mob would take him from you an' lynch him sure."
"The Rangers don't give up their prisoners, my friend. They take 'em an' they keep 'em. You'd ought to know that."
The tendejón-keeper flushed. He had been dragged to justice once by one of the force.
The eyes of the four consulted again. They were still hesitant. The shame of letting this youth take from them their companion without a fight was like a burr under a saddle-blanket to a bronco. But after all, the Ranger stood for law. If they killed him, other Rangers would come to avenge his death.
When men are in doubt the one who is sure dominates the situation. The eye of Roberts carried the compulsion of a deadly weapon. His voice was crisp.
"Come here, Tony," he ordered, and his fingers slipped into the pocket of his coat.
Alviro looked at him for a long second--swore to himself that he would not come--and came.
"Hold out yore hands."
The Mexican set his will to refuse. There was still time to elect to fight. He told himself that was what he was going to do. But he could not hold his own in that steady battle of the eyes. His hands moved forward--empty.