has got evidence; mebbe he hasn't. Anyhow, our big duck wants to
forget the time he was wearing a mask and bending a six-gun for a
living. Also and moreover, he's right anxious to have other folks get
a chance to forget. From what I can hear he's clean mashed on some
girl at Amarillo, or maybe it's Fort Lincoln. See what a twist
Strove's got on him if he can slip into the Mal Pais country on the q.
t."

"And you're going up there to look out for him?"

"I'm going in to take a casual look around. There's no telling what a
man might happen onto accidentally if he travels with his ear to the
ground."

The other nodded. He could now understand easily why Fraser was going
into the Mal Pais country, but he could not make out why the ranger,
naturally a man who lived under his own hat and kept his own counsel,
had told him so much as he had. The officer shortly relieved his mind
on this point.

"I may need help while I'm there. May I call on you if I do, seh?"

Neill felt his heart warm toward this hard-faced, genial frontiersman,
who knew how to judge so well the timbre of a casual acquaintance.

"You sure may, lieutenant."

"Good. I'll count on you then."

So, in these few words, the compact of friendship and alliance was