Johnny got to his feet in a daze, leaving it to Kelsey to close the dead man’s eyes. The boy had easily grasped Gale’s dramatic story, but his brain was so busily engaged in separating the many details into their proper sequence that it was impossible for him to think clearly.

Out of the jumble of confused facts one thing came to overwhelm him. Molly was not Kent’s daughter! That was his big surprise.

In a way, Gale’s story explained things about as Johnny had fancied them. Beyond question Gallup had been the actual murderer. Kent was almost equally guilty, though. Johnny realized how impossible it was going to be to keep the cattleman from spending the rest of his days in jail.

“Thank God, he ain’t her father!” he said to himself. “He’s guilty, and he’ll have to pay for it.”

The other men were bunched about Kelsey, and Johnny heard him say:

“Gallup shot him. Gale had so much on the man that Gallup had to kill him. Johnny had enough on Aaron to satisfy me; Tobias clinched it. He swore that Jackson Kent and the coroner of this county killed Crosbie Traynor—it was to hide a crime committed twenty years ago. It’s a strange story, boys; but the thing to do now is to get going. We want Kent and Gallup alive—remember that.”

“Best thing to do, I guess, is to unhitch the team, and put Gale back in the rig and leave him here,” Doc suggested. “Did you notice this, Jim? Gale’s gun? It’s been shot twice. He must have tried to get in a lick.”

“No,” Johnny cut in. “They fired it after they’d got him; threw it in the wagon and gave the horses hell. If it hadn’t been for us Gale’s body wouldn’t have been found until the team got to town. That would have looked like suicide to a lot of people.”

“That’s about the way I figure it,” Kelsey agreed. “If you boys are ready we’ll go.”

Johnny and the district attorney rode abreast as the party started on.

“Glad you didn’t say anythin’ about the girl,” the boy remarked. “I want to save her all the misery I can.”

“I know, Johnny; but it’s not going to be possible to keep Kent out of this. Most of the money he has belongs to her. She will get her share of Gallup’s pile, too. The best thing to do is to come clean with the whole story.”

“I don’t want you to do that, Jim—not until you have to. Only for me there wouldn’t have been a murmur. I nailed Gallup and Kent. Molly’s happiness is all the reward I want. I’ve got a right to ask for that, and I’m doin’ it now. I don’t know where she is, but I’ll find her. In some way I’m goin’ to try and break this thing to her a little at a time. She’s suffered enough these past weeks.”

“Don’t fret, Johnny. And I want to give you a bit of advice. You can take it or not. It’s well meant. You’ll find the girl. Kent wouldn’t harm her. I think I know how things are between you; marry her—at once. Get her down to San Francisco or Santa Cruz. After you’re there, begin to tell her the truth. And remember this—when you come back don’t go to the ranch. Get a house down in Winnemucca. Buy a car, and you’ll be able to get back and forth from the ranch in no time.”

“That’s sure a gay future you’re paintin’ for me,” Johnny smiled lugubriously. “All I got to do is to make her see it—takin’ me and all the rest of it.”

“Well, I’m going to pay you a sincere compliment, Johnny—she couldn’t pick a better man.”

“Oh, pie!” Johnny exclaimed, ridiculing Kelsey’s words.

“Pie or cream puffs,” the attorney remonstrated, “it’s all the same with me. I know what I know. When a man will play as hard as you play, I know he’ll work when the playing days are over. The Diamond-Bar is a big property. No matter what happens to Kent he’ll have to give the girl her share. That’ll be a job for you. Preach it into Miss Molly that she must start a clean slate. Old scenes bring back old memories, and old memories haunt us. The past is past.”

Kelsey laughed to himself. “That’s the most talking I’ve done in a right smart bit of time. No charges, either.”

Johnny smiled, too. “Well, at least I’m obliged to you, Jim,” he drawled. “You’ve got my vote, anyhow.”

Scanlon, who had been riding ahead, drew up his horse and waited for the others to come abreast him. “We’d better spread out,” he suggested. “If they see us riding together it’s going to look suspicious. They don’t know we’re after them. If each man goes it alone one of us is sure to pick them up. Let the one that does string along until he meets another man. Between the two of them they ought to get the drop.”

“You always did know how to draw to a hand, Scanlon,” Johnny answered approvingly. “I say, break up right here.”

“All right,” Kelsey agreed. “Each of us understands what to do. I’ll take the eastern caÑon; Scanlon, you go straight ahead; Doc and Johnny and Charlie Paul can spread out to the west and work north. We’ll meet at the Agency by evening.”

In pursuance of this plan they separated. In half an hour Johnny found himself alone, crossing a narrowing plain between two broken ranges. The Indian was on his left, Doc Ritter on his right. By noon time they were miles apart.

The plain which Johnny had traversed came to an end. Before him arose giant mountains. It was his intention to scale them and later on to cross a high plateau to his north, eventually coming to the trail which led to the post trader’s store.

The boy’s horse made slow progress during the next hour. Every foot of the way was an uphill climb. On reaching a fairly level basin in the mountainside Johnny stopped to let his pony get his wind. Reaching for his tobacco and papers, Johnny began rolling a cigarette.

The zing-g-g-g of a bullet terminated the operation very abruptly. With a backward lunge the boy threw himself out of his saddle, and, hugging the ground, wriggled to the cover of a giant bowlder. Ten yards away he could see his hat, a neat little hole showing where the bullet had passed through.

Not more than a second later, it seemed, another shot sounded. Johnny’s head swung around to find the source of it. As he stared above him he saw a man rise to his feet, sway for an instant as his gun dropped from his hands, and sink back out of sight.

“It’s Kent!” Johnny gasped.

A voice called then:

“Hullo—Johnny! Hees all right for stand up. It’s me—Madeiras!”