Now that the years had passed and the long-sought-for
opportunity was believed to be at hand, there was promised either a
cessation of the outrages or that Buck would never again see his
friends.
When the three mounted and came to him for final instructions Buck
forced himself to be almost repellent in order to be capable of
coherent speech. Hopalong glanced sharply at him and then understood,
Red was all attention and eagerness and remarked nothing but the
words.
"Have yu ever heard of Slippery Trendley?" Harshly inquired the
foreman.
They nodded, and on the faces of the younger men a glint of hatred
showed itself, but Frenchy wore his poker countenance.
Buck continued: "Th' reason I asked yu was because I don't want yu
to think yore goin' on no picnic. I ain't shore it's him, but I've had
some hopeful information. Besides, he is th' only man I knows of who's
capable of th' plays that have been made. It's hardly necessary for me
to tell yu to sleep with one eye open and never to get away from yore
guns. Now I'm goin' to tell yu th' hardest part: yu are goin' to
search th' Staked Plain from one end to th' other, an' that's what no
white man's ever done to my knowledge.
"Now, listen to this an' don't forget it. Twenty miles north from
Last Stand Rock is a spring; ten miles south of that bend in Hell
Arroyo is another.
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