“He won’t ever do it.”

“He might, with my gun barrel stuck in his ear.”

The coming sunrise was already lacing the skyline clouds with pink and purple when Andy and Rusty rode up to Shanty’s place. The dog announced them. Farley Brackett came out from beneath the shed where he had spent the night. Andy had known he was unlikely to sleep in the cabin under the same roof with Shanty. Farley held a pistol in his hand until he was certain no one had come with Andy and Rusty, and no one had followed.

He demanded, “Where’s my money?”

Andy felt like hitting him. “I didn’t get it.”

Farley’s face twisted with anger. “Did that damned old man refuse to give it to you?”

Outrage gave a sharp edge to Andy’s voice. “That damned old man died tryin’ to give it to me.”

Farley stood slack-jawed. “Died?”

In as few words as possible, Andy told him what had happened. Farley looked as if he had been shot in the stomach. “How bad is my mother hurt? What about my sister?”

“Your mother is probably on the way to town by now. Your sister wasn’t hit.”

Shanty had heard most of it. He stood silent, eyes sympathetic for a man who had shown him only contempt.

Farley turned his back, pulling himself together. When he turned again, his face was taut with anger and hatred. “What about them Oldhams? They still at our place?”

Andy said, “The captain fired them. Told them he would pay them off in town.”

“Town!” Farley dropped his hand to the butt of his pistol. “Whereabouts in town?”

“I don’t know. Courthouse, I guess.”

Rusty frowned, motioning for Andy to be quiet. But the bag was already open and the cat let out.

Farley started for the corral, where his horse stood waiting for feed. “Then they’ll get paid off twice.”

Rusty said, “I wish you hadn’t told him. Now he’s on his way to kill the Oldhams.”

“Wouldn’t make any difference whether I told him or not. He’d figure it out.”

Rusty swung back into the saddle. “We’ve got to try and get to town ahead of him. Maybe we can find some way to stop this.”

“We might delay it, but I doubt we can stop it short of killin’ him ourselves. Bethel said he won’t leave here ‘til he gets his revenge on Clyde and Buddy. I expect she’s right.”

Rusty said, “Shanty, see if you can keep Farley here a little longer. Offer him coffee, fix him breakfast. . . anything you can do.”

“I’ll try, Mr. Rusty, but looks to me like he’s got the devil ridin’ with him. Watch out he don’t k\\\you if you get in his way.”

Rusty spurred into a lope. Andy managed to bring Long Red up even. He said, “He’ll know what you’re up to. He’ll run that horse to death tryin’ to beat us to town.”

Andy had reason to fear they might run their own horses to death. Rusty kept pushing hard, frequently looking back over his shoulder. Andy looked back too, but could not see Farley.