James brought the rifle around, pointing it at Rusty.

Rusty said, “You ain’t had time to reload. That rifle’s empty.” He drew his pistol. “But this isn’t.”

James stared in dismay at Rusty’s weapon, then at his own. “You wouldn’t kill me, Rusty.”

“I wouldn’t want to. I’d try to wound you instead, but my leg’s hurtin’ so bad I can’t guarantee my aim.”

Vince Purdy’s jaw dropped. “Rusty, if I’d ever thought you’d do this . . .”

“I don’t like it any better than you do, but I’ve got no choice. Hand me your pistol, Vince.”

Hesitantly Purdy complied. Rusty removed the loads and handed it back to him. Purdy said, “James is a good man at heart. Had a good raisin’. He done what most anybody might do.”

“I know. I came awful close to doin’ the same thing myself once. But I was lucky. Somebody stopped me.” Rusty pointed in the direction of the Monahan farm. “Like James said, you’d better ride in the creek for a ways. Whoever’s comin’, they’ll follow me and James. Tell the womenfolks I’m sorry it had to be this way.” He thought regretfully of Geneva. She would take this badly.

“Sooner or later your conscience’ll commence to plaguin’ you over this.”

“It already does, but I’ve lived with a wounded leg. I can live with a guilty conscience. They’re neither one fatal.”

James argued, “If you turn me over to the sheriff, I’ll be dead before dark. He can’t stop Dawkins’s people from draggin’ me out and puttin’ a rope around my neck.”

“I’m not takin’ you to the sheriff. I’m takin’ you to the ranger camp at Belknap. I don’t know what the court may do, but at least the rangers won’t let a mob get you.”

Purdy said, “I’m goin’ along with you.”

“That’s not necessary. I’ll see that nobody touches him.”

“I’m goin’ anyway, and you can’t stop me.”

The determined look in Purdy’s eyes showed where Clemmie’s stubborn nature had come from. Arguing with the old man would be like talking to a fence post.

“All right. But I have a job to do, and it’s got a bad-enough taste as it is. Don’t do anything to make it worse.” He looked back. He still saw no sign of pursuit, but his skin prickled. “We’d better be movin’.”

This was a poor way to repay the Monahan family, but duty gave him no choice.

James pointed out, “It’s a right smart of a ways to Belknap.”

“We’ll make it.”

James looked as if he had a secret he was not sharing. “Mama and Geneva told me about your leg. Reckon it’ll hold up to that long a ride?”

“It’s held up this far.”

In the stress of the shooting and the escape, Rusty had given little thought to his healing wound. Now he became very conscious of its insistent aching. He knew putting this kind of strain on it was a risk, but he saw no option. He had to make it to Belknap. He did not point the pistol directly at James, but he motioned with it. “Let’s go.”