"Something's wrong!" I said, swinging about on Copperhead Kate the moment we were alone. She had taken a watch from her purse and was holding it in her hand. I saw at a glance that it was Bud's time-piece. And my heart began to pound.

"I guess you'd better stiffen up for a shock," my caller told me, watching my face with her sleepy green eyes.

"What's happened?" I demanded, staring at the watch.

"Bud wanted you to have this," Copperhead Kate explained as she passed the watch over to me.

"Where's Bud?" I asked, almost in a scream. Copperhead Kate warned me, by a movement, not to raise my voice.

"They shot Bud three days ago when he was trying to make his get-away," I heard the woman in black saying to me. I sat staring at her veil. All the world went misty in front of me.

"They shot him?" I echoed. The face behind the veil moved slowly up and down. I sat there a long time, without moving.

"Tell me about it," I whispered, at last. It struck me as odd that the watch in my hand should be still ticking.

"Bud had cut three bars away with a steel saw