Then, taking the
box under his arm, he went down into the stable. Here again he made
careful search, spending an hour in a stubborn search. Then leaving the
box in a manger, straw-covered, he went back to the cabin on the top of
the knoll. His eyes, running to the four points of the compass, told him
that there was no other man within sight.
Taking off his boots and socks he waded out into the middle of Big
Little River, carrying a shovel and the box. In the soft, sandy soil he
made a hole deep enough to hold the box which he put into it. Swiftly he
filled it with stones, placed a big, flat rock over it, saw that there
was no sign of his work as the sand and mud drifted in to fill the
little hollow, and then went back for his boots. The shovel he put again
against the bunk house wall.
When, at last, he had mended his cinch and rode Comet out towards the
east and the mountains upon the flank of the Poison Hole, he had made up
his mind what he was going to do.
"It's a gamble," he told himself coolly. "But I guess I've got to gamble
now. And I'm going to play it heavy."
CHAPTER XXVII
JIMMIE SQUARES HIMSELF
A horseman was riding toward him upon the far bank of the Big Little
River where it straightened out beyond the cabin.
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