"I can walk back," said Bridge, "it isn't far to town. I'll tell
them that I had come only a short distance when my horse
threw me and ran away. They'll believe it for they think I'm a
rotten horseman--the two vaqueros who escorted me to town
I mean."
Billy hesitated. "I hate to do it, Bridge," he said.
"You must, Billy," urged the other.
"If they find us here together it'll merely mean that the two
of us will get it, for I'll stick with you, Billy, and we can't
fight off a whole troop of cavalry out here in the open. If you
take my horse we can both get out of it, and later I'll see you
in Rio. Good-bye, Billy, I'm off for town," and Bridge turned
and started back along the road on foot.
Billy watched him in silence for a moment. The truth of
Bridge's statement of fact was so apparent that Billy was
forced to accept the plan. A moment later he transferred the
bags of loot to Bridge's pony, swung into the saddle, and
took a last backward look at the diminishing figure of the
man swinging along in the direction of Cuivaca.
"Say," he muttered to himself; "but you're a right one,
bo," and wheeling to the north he clapped his spurs to his
new mount and loped easily off into the night.
CHAPTER XI
BARBARA RELEASES A CONSPIRATOR
IT was a week later, yet Grayson still was growling about the
loss of "that there Brazos pony.
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