Seite 389 von 439

"Bring water, Dick, and tell Doc Lee to come at once. He'll be in

the back room smoking. Hurry!" She looked fiercely round upon the

men assembled. "I think they have killed him. Who did this? Was

it you, Yorky? Was it you that murdered him?"

"I bane t'ink it take von hoondred of them to do it," said

Siegfried. "Dat fallar, Johnson, he bane at the bottom of it."

"Then why didn't you kill him? Aren't you Steve's friend? Didn't

he save your life?" she panted, passion burning in her beautiful

eyes.

Siegfried nodded. "I bane Steve's friend, yah! And Ay bane kill

Johnson eef Steve dies."

Briscoe, furious at this turn of the tide which had swept Arlie's

sympathies back to his enemy, followed Struve as he sneaked

deeper into the shadow of the trees. The convict was nursing a

sprained wrist when Jed reached him.