To-night, however, Eddie led the way to the right instead of the left, which seemed to Bud a direction that would bring them down Oldman creek, that dry river bed, and finally, perhaps, to the race track.
Eddie never did explain just how he made his way through a maze of water-cut pillars and heaps of sandstone so bewildering that Bud afterward swore that in spite of the fact that he was leading Sunfish, he frequently found himself at that patient animal's tail, where they were doubled around some freakish pillar.

Frequently Eddie stopped and peered past his horse to make sure that Bud had not lost the trail.
And finally, because he was no doubt worried over that possibility, he knotted his rope to his saddle horn, brought back a length that reached a full pace behind the tail of the horse, and placed the end in Bud's hand.
"If yuh lose me you're a goner," he whispered.

"So hang onto that, no matter what comes.

And don't yuh speak to me.

This is hell's corral and we're walking the top trail right now." He made sure that Bud had the loop in his hand, then slipped back past his horse and went on, walking more quickly.
Bud admitted afterwards that he was perfectly willing to be led like a tame squirrel around the top of "hell's corral", whatever that was.