An" thank you for comin". We"ll never forget all you"ve done for us these days."
"I"m not going."
"Not goin"?"
"I"m going to stay right here. They won"t dare to shoot at you if I"m here."
"I never did see such a girl as you," admitted Prince, smiling at her.
"You take the cake. But we can"t let you do that for us. We can"t skulk behind a young lady"s skirts to save our hides. It"s not etiquette on the Pecos."
The red color burned through her dusky skin. "I"m not doing it for you,"
she said stiffly. "It"s dad I"m thinking about. I don"t want him mixed up in such a business. I won"t have it either."
"You"d better go to him and talk it over, then."
"No. I"ll stay here. He wouldn"t listen to me a minute."
Billie was still patient with her. "I don"t think you"d better stay, Miss Lee. I know just how you feel. But there are a lot of folks won"t understand howcome you to take up with yore father"s enemies. They"ll talk a lot of foolishness likely."
The cowpuncher blushed at his own awkward phrasing of the situation, yet the thing had to be said and he knew no other way to say it.
She flashed a resentful glance at him. Her cheeks, too, flamed.
"I don"t care what they say since it won"t be true," she answered proudly. "You needn"t argue. I"ve staked out a claim here."
"I wish you"d go. There"s still time."
The girl turned on him angrily with swift, animal grace. "I tell you it"s none of your business whether I go or stay. I"ll do just as I please."
Prince gave up his attempt to change her mind. If she would stay, she would. He set about arranging the defense.
Young Clanton crept out to the mouth of the cave and lay down with his rifle beside him. His friend piled up the tumble weeds in front of him.
"We"re right enough in front--easy enough to stand "em off there,"
reflected Billie, aloud. "But I"d like to know what"s to prevent us from being attacked in the rear. They can crawl up through the brush till they"re right on top of the bank. They can post sharpshooters in the mesquite across the river so that if we come out to check those snakin"
forward, the snipers can get us."
"I"ll sit on the bank above the cave and watch "em," announced Lee.
"An" what if they mistook you for one of us?" asked Prince dryly.
"They can"t, with me wearing a red coat."
"You"re bound to be in this, aren"t you?" His smile was more friendly than the words. It admitted reluctant admiration of her.
The party on the other side of the river was in plain sight now. Jim counted four--five--six of them as they deployed. Presently Prince threw a bullet into the dust at the feet of one of the horses as they moved forward. It was meant as a warning not to come closer and accepted as one.
After a minute of consultation a single horseman rode to the bank of the stream.
"You over there," he shouted.
"It"s dad," said Lee.
"You"d better surrender peaceable. We"ve come to git you alive or dead,"
shouted Snaith.
"What do you want us for?" asked Prince.
"You know well enough what for. You killed one of my punchers."
Clanton groaned. "Only one?"
"An" another may die any day. Come out with yore hands up."
"We"d rather stay here, thank you," Billie called back.
Snaith leaned forward in the saddle. "Is that you over there, Lee?"
"Yes, dad."
"Gone back on yore father and taken up with Webb"s scalawags, have you?"
"No, I haven"t," she called back. "But I"m going to see they get fair play."
"You git out of there, girl, and on this side of the river!" Snaith roared angrily. "p.r.o.nto! Do you hear?"
"There"s no use shouting yourself hoa.r.s.e, dad. I can hear you easily, and I"m not coming."
"Not comin"! D"ye mean you"ve taken up with a pair of killers, of outlaws we "re goin" to put out of business? You talk like a--like a--"
"Go slow, Snaith!" cut in Prince sharply. "Can"t you see she"s tryin" to save you from murder?"
"We"re goin" to take those boys back to Los Portales with us--or their bodies. I don"t care a whole lot which. You light a shuck out of there, Lee."
"No," she answered stubbornly. "If you"re so bent on shooting at some one you can shoot at me."
The cattleman stormed and threatened, but in the end he had to give up the point. His daughter was as obstinate as he was. He retired in volcanic humor.
"I never could get dad to give up swearing," his daughter told her new friends by way of humorous apology. "Wonder what he"ll do now."
"Wait till night an" drive us out of our hole, I expect," replied Prince.
"Will he wait? I"m not so sure of that," said Jim. "See. His men are scattering. They"re up to somethin"."
"They"re going down to cross the river to get behind us just as you said they would," predicted Lee.
She was right. Half an hour later, from her position on the bank above the cave, she caught a glimpse of a man slipping forward through the brush. She called to Prince, who crept out from behind the tumble weeds to join her. A bullet dug into the soft clay not ten inches from his head. He scrambled up and lay down behind a patch of soapweed a few yards from the girl. Another bullet from across the river whistled past the cowpuncher.
Lee rose and walked across to the bushes where he lay crouched. Very deliberately she stood there, shading her eyes from the sun as she looked toward the sharpshooters. Twice they had taken a chance, because of the distance between her and Prince. She intended they should know how close she was to him now.