"Found him over beyond Cressman," Jeff said truthfully. "Do you keep
dogs?"
"Houn's," Barr admitted. "Wouldn't pester myself with a no-account dog
such as that."
Jeff cast for a way to lull Barr. "Depends on what you want in a dog,
wouldn't you say?"
"Could. What do you want?"
Jeff did his best to look like a man who faces a desperate situation,
but who was mightily cheered because his dog saw fit to track him down.
If he did everything exactly right, and with split-second precision, his
plan had at least an even chance of working.
Escape would not solve everything. Pete would still be unpunished and if
the Whitneys should meet him, Jeff, again, they would not bother to take
him prisoner. They'd shoot on sight. But he could name Johnny Blazer's
killer. That would start things, and maybe he'd be able to finish them.
Regardless of what might happen in the future, this was now. Jeff had to
get out of the cabin before he could do anything else, but it was as
though Barr could read his mind.
"You're ponderin'," he accused.
"Is that a crime in these hills?"
"If," Barr said deliberately, "you try to make a break, I'll kill ye in
your tracks. I have spoke it."