"Um-hum. My head aches some."

"Mine, too."

"You got a couple of black eyes, an' your lip is swol up."

"One of yours is turnin' black."

Curt regained his feet and walked slowly toward his horse. "Well, I'll
be goin'. So long."

"So long," answered the Texan. He, too, swung into the saddle and each
rode upon his way.




CHAPTER XVI

BACK IN CAMP

From their place of concealment high upon the edge of Antelope Butte,
Alice Marcum and Endicott watched the movements of the three horsemen
with absorbing interest. They saw the Texan circle to the
south-eastward and swing north to intercept the trail of the unknown
rider. They watched Bat, with Indian cunning, creep to his place of
concealment at the edge of the coulee. They saw the riders disperse,
the unknown to head toward the mountains at a gallop, and the Texan to
turn his horse southward and ride slowly into the bad lands. And they