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it, Mrs. Day?”
    “You have to leave now!” She spoke low and urgent. “That Jones fellow is doing a lot of talking, and he’s saying you murdered Tom Benson. Everybody wants to hang you, so you have to go now!”
    “Hang me!” I was suddenly wide awake. “But it was a fair fight! He even drew first!”
    “It’s your word against his, and he was a friend of theirs,” she hastily explained. 
    I was careful not to make much noise as I crawled out from underneath the wagon.
    I saw a huge campfire burning near the center of the wagons, and a big crowd had gathered around it. I could hear them talking, and it didn’t sound good.
    “What are you going to do?” I asked Mrs. Day.
    “Don’t you worry about me; I can take care of myself,” Mrs. Day said real hush like. “Now listen. I already saddled your horse, and I put some extra food in your saddlebags. Your canteen is full, so you’d best be going.”
    I stayed in the darkness beside the wagon as I buckled my gun belt and pulled on my boots.
    Mrs. Day rushed me to Slim. 
    “I don’t think they’ll follow you, but I would keep going for a while anyway,” she instructed me. “And make sure and keep your eye out for Indians. They’re still about, you know.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” I said as I climbed up onto Slim.
    “Go back east, Rondo, and maybe somebody can help you there,” Mrs. Day said, still trying to help me as best as she could.
    There wasn’t much time. Loud voices from the campfire were fast approaching, so I looked down at Mrs. Day. 
    “Thanks for everything, Mrs. Day. I sure hope you find what you’re looking for in California.”
    “You take care of yourself, Rondo,” Mrs. Day said, and her face was real worried looking. “Now go!”
    I turned Slim around and trotted out.
    As soon as I reached the outskirts of camp I heard a shout from behind, and a second later there was a thundering boom.
    A bullet flew by my head, and I ducked as Slim raced forward. A few more shots were fired in desperation, but they were way off target. 
    Slim was spooked, and we ran wild for a long time. The lights of the campfires became smaller, and finally we were alone, swallowed up in the darkness.   
    It was one of those clear, summer nights, and the moon was full. Slim was full of energy and wanting to travel, so I gave him his head and we put some distance between us and the wagon train.
    As we rode I gave my current situation some serious thought. 
    Before I’d had the hope of joining up with Mrs. Day. But now, I had nothing.
    That made me feel low. But, I forced myself not to cry about it, for that wouldn’t help the matter none.
    Mrs. Day had told me to go back east. But, the more I thought about that, the more I started deciding against it. I had always wanted to come out west, and now that I was here I saw no need to go back. 
    My dream had always been to get a ranch job breaking broncs, and that’s what I decided to try and do now. Somehow, I would get over to Midway and see if I could get a job with J.T. Tussle. If he was going to give a job to Pa then why not me?
    The first problem I had was that I had no idea where Midway was at. All Pa had ever said was that it was out west on the Texas Plains.
    That was a lot of country. What I needed were directions.        
    I remembered then the frontier settlement that we had passed a few days back.
    I figured my best bet would be to ride back to that settlement and ask for directions. Then, I would buy enough grub to last the trip and ride on to Midway. 
    All that might have sounded easy, but I knew that it was going to be a lot harder than it sounded.
     

Chapter twelve
     
     
    I traveled on through the night, and when it got daylight I pulled up Slim. 
    I watered and picketed Slim, and then I bedded down. I still had Pa’s old coat tied behind my saddle, and I used it as a blanket. 
    I slept most the day. I woke up hungry, so I ate some of the grub that Mrs. Day had packed.
    Before