Shorty Gibbs found himself on the gray edge of consciousness and tried to figure out where he was and who was talking to him. His head ached and there was a wooly taste in his mouth. He remembered hoping to finish his mail run before sundown--and then flying through the air. The old-timer in whose cart he lay was talking nonsense. He said Shorty had been shot and that he'd been unconscious for three days. Suddenly Shorty realized that he'd better make an effort to come out of it. Someone had deliberately tried to kill him--and left him for dead on the banks of Gyp Creep. Now Shorty wanted to know why.