“If he’d git out of here he might have a chance yet.  But he won’t.  An’ when he meets up with Champa or Dave Roush he’s got to forget mighty prompt everything that Polly has told him.”

“I heard Roush was on the mend.  Is he up again?”

“Yes.  He had a narrow squeak, but pulled through.  Roush rode into town with Mysterious Pete to-night.”

“Then they’ve probably come to gun Jim.  I’ll stay right with him for a day or two if I can.”

“What for?” demanded Roubideau bluntly.  “You’re not in this thing.  You’ve got no call to mix up in it.  The boy saved Polly, an’ I’ll go this far.  If I’m on the spot when he meets Champa or Roush—­an’ I’ll try to be there—­I won’t let’em both come at him without takin’ a hand.  But he has got to choose his own way in life.  I can’t stand between him an’ the consequences of his acts.  He’s got to play his own hand.”

“Did Dave Roush an’ Mysterious Pete seem pretty friendly?”

“Thicker than three in a bed.”

“Looks bad.”  Billie came to another phase of the situation.  “How does it happen that Snaith’s outfit have let Jim stay here without gettin’ after him?  Nothin’ but a necktie party would suit ’em when we left in the spring.”

“Times have changed,” explained Roubideau.  “This is quite a trail town now.  The big outfits are bringin’ in a good deal of money.  Snaith can’t run things with so high a hand as he did.  Besides, there are a good many of the trail punchers in town now.  I reckon Wally Snaith has given orders not to start anything.”

“Maybe Roush an’ Champa have been given orders to take care of Jim.”

Jean doubted this and said so.  “Snaith doesn’t play his hand under the table.  But, of course, Sanders may have tipped ’em off to do it.”

Clanton joined them presently and the three men walked downtown.  The gay smile dropped from Jim’s face the moment he stepped down from the porch.  Already his eyes had narrowed and over them had come a kind of film.  They searched every dark spot on the road.

“Let’s go to Tolleson’s,” he proposed abruptly.

There was a moment of silence before Billie made a counter-proposition.  “No, let’s go back to the hotel.”

“All right.  You fellows go to the hotel.  Meet you there later.”

The eyes of Prince and Roubideau met.  Not another word was spoken.  Both of them knew that Clanton intended to show himself in public where any one that wanted him might find him.  They turned toward Tolleson’s, but took the precaution to enter by the back door.

The sound of shuffling feet, of tinkling piano and whining fiddle, gave notice in advance that the dancers were on the floor.  Clanton took the precaution to ease the guns in their holsters in order to make sure of a swift draw.

His forethought was unnecessary.  Neither Roush nor Mysterious Pete was among the dancers, the gamblers, or at the bar.  The three friends passed out of the front door and walked to the Proctor House.  Clanton had done all that he felt was required of him and was willing to drop the matter for the night.