Figgered Nell made
the trip in five hours. I went straight to the camp of the
cavalrymen, an' found them just coolin' off an' dressin' down their
hosses after what looked to me like a big ride. I got there too
late for the fireworks.
"Some soldier took me to an officer's tent. Nell was there, some
white an' all in. She just said, 'Laddy!' Thorne was there, too,
an' he was bein' worked over by the camp doctor. I didn't ask no
questions, because I seen quiet was needed round that tent. After
satisfying myself that Nell was all right, an' Thorne in no danger,
I went out.
"Shore there was so darn many fellers who wanted to an' tried to
tell me what'd come off, I thought I'd never find out. But I got
the story piece by piece. An' here's what happened.
"Nell rode Blanco Sol a-tearin' into camp, an' had a crowd round
her in a jiffy. She told who she was, where she'd come from, an'
what she wanted. Well, it seemed a day or so before Nell got there
the cavalrymen had heard word of Thorne. You see, Thorne had
left camp on leave of absence some time before. He was shore
mysterious, they said, an' told nobody where he was goin'.
A week or so after he left camp some Greaser give it away that
Rojas had a prisoner in a dobe shack near his camp. Nobody paid
much attention to what the Greaser said. He wanted money for
mescal. An' it was usual for Rojas to have prisoners. But in a
few more days it turned out pretty sure that for some reason
Rojas was holdin' Thorne.
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