“I would have been in a hell of a fix, wouldn't I? Whatever I done, I would have led them away from you two. And I don't appreciate any notion that I would have done different. I got caught ’cause I was bringing up the rear. I knew where you two was, and I knew they didn't. If I was to try to get to where you was, they would have seen you, too. I done what any cowboy would do—I waved at them. When they waved back, I knew we was all right.”

“That was damned close,” John said, leading his horse up to where Tom and Sisson stood. “I started to feel the noose tightening on my neck.”

“It was close,” Tom said. “But it was only close. We're all right. No one's getting hanged yet.”

“It was too close,” John said.

“We better get on toward the hills,” Sisson said. “This ain't the time to relax or argue. It's broad daylight now. We're going to stand out like rummies in the church choir if we just stay out here on the plain.”

It was ten more miles to the Pic Hills. They had to move cross-country. There was no road, and that was their advantage and disadvantage. It would be slow going, but if they were followed by a vehicle, the terrain would be more likely to slow or even stop the vehicle than it would the horses.

They rode closer now. They were in no less danger of being seen, but they were also more likely to spot trouble coming than they would have in the early morning light. They rode at a steady pace, just below a canter, trying not to send up clouds of dust that could be seen from a goodly distance.

“So, where was we headed when the truck came by?”

“Down by Rock Creek. There's a good place to hide the horses while we get up into the Cochise Stronghold. Once we're in the Stronghold, we're safe. The army never got Cochise out of there, and I don't figure a bunch of cotton farmers and shop clerks can get us out of there.”

“And what if they're up there first?”

“Then we're dead.”

They rode on. Sisson rolled a cigarette, took a couple of long drags, then passed it on to John and Tom. “Can't remember all the important stuff when you're in a hurry. I left a whole can of tobacco under the cot in the cabin.”

“It would be a good thing to have more tobacco,” Tom agreed. “It occurs to me that if Thems would take up smoking and drinking, it might keep them occupied so that they wouldn't be inclined to mind the business of others who ain't doing Thems harm.”

“Guess people take their entertainment where they find it,” Sisson said.

“Besides, Thems didn't come after us because Thems was bored,” John said.

“No,” Tom agreed. “Thems wasn't bored. Smelled gold, that's what it was.”