Beyond doubt, if it had not been for that same silence, if it had not been
for the slowness with which they drifted through the dark, what follows
could never have happened. They had crossed a hill, and descended into a
very narrow ravine which came to so sharp a point that the horses had to be
strung out in single file. The ravine twisted to the right and then the
last man of the procession heard the sheriff call: "Halt, there! Up with
your hands, or I'll drill you!" When they swung from side to side, craning
their heads to look, they made out a shadowy horseman facing Pete head on.
Then the sheriff's voice again: "Gregg, I'm considerable glad to meet up
with you."
If that meeting had taken place in any other spot probably Gregg would have
taken his chance on escaping through the night, but in this narrow pass he
could swing to neither side and before he could turn the brown horse
entirely around the sheriff might pump him full of lead. They gathered in a
solemn quiet around him; the irons were already upon his wrists.
"All right, boys," he said, "you've got me, but you'll have to give in that
you had all the luck.
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