Ten, predawn ~~~

My eyes flew open. The watch! I was supposed to be awake! I looked about. It was full dark still. Glancing up through the tree branches overhead at the glory of stars beyond, I found that the fat crescent of the moon was still low in the sky. I had not slept long then.

I settled back against the rock and listened to the quiet. Quiet indeed! Where were the frogs I had heard earlier? Frowning, I looked about anew. Had the silence awakened me? I listened and heard nothing, nothing but the soft breeze and my friend's breathing, slow and rhythmic as he slept on. Ah, and now I heard the horse Mesa as well as it shifted in the darkness and nickered. Somewhere in the night another horse answered.

My eyes shot open wide. What? Another horse? Two horses, when there should only have been one? And the only other person I knew who had a horse was le colonel!

Carefully I looked around us, trying to spot where the other horse - and more importantly, its rider - might be. Moving slowly, I dropped my hand toward the sheath at my hip to draw my Bowie knife.

"I wouldn't," said a voice, to the accompaniment of the click of a revolver being cocked.

I froze. Then thawed again. The voice - it was not a voice I knew! Whoever this was, he was not le colonel nor any of his men.

Taking courage, I called out to him. "Who are you?"

"If you were supposed to be keeping watch, kid, you didn't do a very good job of it," the voice told me.

Sheepishly I nodded. In truth, I had not.

"What about the man beside you?" the stranger asked. "Is he all right?" Curiously, I heard concern in the stranger's voice. "I'm surprised he didn't wake up before you did," he said.

"I, I do not know why he did not wake, m'si… mister, but he has been ill, very ill. He is exhausted, I think." I laid a hand gently on Uncle Dave's forehead.

"Ill? What do you mean by ill?" Now I heard the revolver being uncocked.

"I do not know what the illness is called, only that he was delirious, and it went on for days." The man seemed sympathetic, so I added, "In addition, he was beaten up. Twice."

"Beaten? Is he all right? Wake him up, kid."

"Must I? He said to wake him at dawn. It is still full dark. May he not sleep a little longer?" I still had not caught sight of the man to whom I was speaking. I thought perhaps his horse was alongside Mesa now, but the man himself I did not see.

"Wake him," he said again.

I shook my head. "Please…"

"Look, kid… What's your name?"

I lifted my chin. "I am Fred. And he, he is my Uncle Dave."

The man snickered at that. "Look, Fred. If that man really is your Uncle Dave, then he's a horse thief. Because I recognize this horse the two of you have, and it happens to belong to my partner."

Partner! Warily, I said, "If that is so, what is the name of the horse?"

"Mesa."

"Tiens!" Relief surged through me as I said, "Then you are Jim West?"

"Yes, I am. And is that man still your Uncle Dave?"

I turned and began shaking mon ami's shoulder. "Artémus! Artémus! Jim West is here!"

He woke with difficulty. "Hmm? Wha…? What'd you say?"

Now at last I saw the stranger as he appeared out of the darkness and hunkered down alongside my friend. "Hey, Artie," he said.

"Wha… J-Jim? Jim, is it you?" A smile like sunshine lit my friend's face as he and Jim clasped hands warmly.

"This young fellow Fred here tells me that you've been sick, Artie, and beaten up as well. In fact, it looks to me," he added with a tone of affectionate teasing in his voice, "like maybe you took a ride through a cotton gin."

"Yeah, I feel it, too," admitted Artémus. "Didn't look good there for a bit, but I'm on the mend now."

"Your ribs," I put in.

"Ribs?" said Jim West.

"Aw, yeah. Someone thought he should do a little tap-dancing on them. They're better now."

"And your ankle," I added.

Artémus turned to look at me. "That's getting better too."

"You cannot wear your boot over it," I pointed out.

"Consarn it, Chipmunk! You're gonna have Jim thinking I've got one foot in the grave!"

"You can fill me in on the rest on the way," said Jim. "Right now we need to get moving."

"Moving, huh?" Artémus echoed.

Jim nodded. "I've been searching for you since the morning you didn't show up for our rendezvous, and when I found the house yesterday, the body in the yard was still warm. Gave me quite a start for a second there until I realized that he wasn't you. I was still checking the site when the colonel and his men showed up, so then of course we had a little run-in."

Artémus snorted. "And how many men did this 'little run-in' cost le colonel, hmm?"

I could see Jim's smile flash in the moonlight. "About half. He's also minus his horse, unless he and his men decided to waste some time trying to round it back up. I've no doubt they're tracking us, but you were doing a good job of disguising your trail…"

"Yeah? You found us quickly enough," my friend interjected.

"Yeah, but that's me. And then I muddied up the trail even more. However," Jim went on, "if we don't hurry up and get going, they'll catch up with us in a few hours. Shortly after daybreak, at the latest."

"Huh. Better shake a leg then." Artémus took the hand that his partner offered him and got to his feet. "Come on, Chipmunk," said mon ami. "We need to break camp."

I nodded and quickly got the ground cloth rolled up and everything ready for us to go. Jim, I saw, went around our camp, erasing all signs of it. Once he was done, we mounted up and left, with Jim leading the way.