"Now I'll give 'em one more tug," said Morisson.

"That is tight enough," Robinson told him.

Reluctantly the giant stopped tightening the bonds and lengths of blanket around Smokes's wrists and ankles.  He tied the last knots, picked the still unconscious man off the floor, and carried him into the other room of the shack.  He tossed him onto a cot.  "Yer finished, hombre."

Hare was looking towards the two revolvers Robinson had taken off Smokes.  They rested on the table now.  "Should we be saying thank you to you, Mr. Robinson?"

"That is not necessary."

"What I mean is, you've saved us from Smokes and his cronies.  But now what?"179Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvkYTFUQB8g

Robinson asked, "What is that you wish next to do?"

Glancing at his wife, he answered, "Leave here.  You see, we came West to locate my wife's brother.  We've done that."

"She's Ollie Potts's sister," said Morisson.

"And is that fresh grave out there his?" asked Robinson.

"Indians got 'im," said the huge Morisson, 'cordin' t' what they says."179Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQsPuaVnpb

Robinson moved nearer the girl.  "I am sorry your bother is dead," he said, "I am searching for my father.  His name is John Robinson."

Morisson blurted, "They musta got Jonny, too."

"No, Ollie Potts was alone when he died," Robinson said.

Katherine asked, "How do you know?"

"I can see," replied Robinson, gesturing at the shack.  "You knew where to come to look for your brother."

"Ollie wrote to me," replied Katherine, "fairly often.  When the letters suddenly stopped I got worried.  I felt something...."

"How long ago was it you ceased to hear from him?"

"Two months or more.

"But he had not been dead that long," Robinson said.  "He was alive when Logan Brock was slain."

"Too busy," put in Morisson.  "Once't we hit gold there weren't nobody whut had time t' write 'ome or t' ride down t' t h' fort t' send off letters."

Robinson asked the blond girl, "In his letters, did your bother speak of John Robinson?"

"He mentioned John Robinson was one of his partners."

"Did he say anything about where they might think of going next?"

Hare answered.  "Europe.  Ollie was always talking about Paris, London, and Vienna.  Once he had sufficient money, that's where he intended to go."

"Jonny, though, he didn't have no money," Morisson jabbed a finger toward the pouch of gold nuggets.  "That's th' entire gold we'd found so far.  When Jonny left, 'e didn't take it.  So he's gotta be as flat broke as he wuz when we started."

"Why do you suppose he didn't take the money?" Hare said.

"He fled the Utes," answered Robinson, "thinking only of surviving."

Shaking her head, Katherine said, "I'm afraid I don't have any information that might help you.  Ollie gave me little concrete information about any of his partners."

"I have missed him again," said Robinson.  "He lived in this room and on another day I might have found him here."

"You're very eager about finding him," said Hare.  "I understand you risked arrest back at Fort Lonestar to get a chance to talk to Morisson about him."

"I would like to find him."

"How long since you've seen him?" asked Katherine.

"I have never met John Robinson."

The girl started to say something, then stopped.  After a second she said, "This claim, it belongs to us now, doesn't it?"

"It's mine," said Morisson, scowling.

"It belongs to both of you," said Robinson, "though the working of it will be a most difficult task."

"We're not going to stay here," Hare told his wife.  "Not with Indians roaming the countryside, and people like Smokes."

Katherine said, "Not now, perhaps, but eventually."

"I ain't," said Morisson, "a'gonna share...."

"You forget we cannot stop here," Robinson reminded him.  "Sergeant Crawford still seeks us, Mr. Morisson."

"But I never done nuttin'.  It was Ollie Potts killed Logan.....I'm sorry, mam, but that's th' way it musta been."

"Ollie couldn't have...."

"There's no way," said Hare, "to prove anything anymore, Katherine."

A heavy rain began suddenly to fall.

Robinson said, "I will bring the other two men inside.  You may want to turn them over to the army or leave them here.  It is your choice."

"And you?" asked Hare.

"Mr. Morisson and I will move on." He eased out the door.

Morisson snatched both the revolvers off the table and stuffed them into his pockets.  "Wait, Robinson.  I'll lend ya a hand."

When they were alone in the room Katherine said, "He doesn't seem like a murderer."

"Which one?"

"Robinson.  He seems so....gentle."

"He wasn't gentle with Smokes."

Robinson returned out of the rainy darkness.  Morisson loomed large behind him. 

"Where are Craig and Hopalong?" asked Hare.

"They are gone," answered Robinson.179Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkGB3iFzrLd