Hopalong Cassidy Sees Red

them go up to it and smell it. The animals turned away and went on again without protest. A little later Red squinted eastward and nodded in answer to his own unspoken question.

'Shore it is,' he muttered.

Hopalong followed his gaze and grunted. 'Shore.' He regarded the distant bulk thoughtfully. 'Strikes me no sane cow ever would go out there, unless it was drove It's our business to look into everythin'. Comin'?'

'I shore am. Nobody can buffalo me an' chuck me into jail without a comeback. I'm lookin' for things to fatten it.'

'It can't get too fat for me,' replied his friend. 'Helpin' th' Kid get his money back was enough to set me after some of that reward money; but when I sized up Kane an' his gang it promised to be a pleasure; now, after that jailin', it's a yelpin' joy. If there's no other way I'm aimin' to ride into Mesquite an' smoke up with both guns.'

As they neared the carcass Red glanced at his cheerful friend. 'Head's swelled up like a keg,' he said. 'Struck by a rattler.'

'Reckon so; but cows dead from snakebite ain't common.'

They pulled up and looked at it at close range.

'Shot,' grunted Hopalong.

'Then somebody was out here with it,' said Red swinging down. 'He was tender-hearted, he was. Gimme a hand. We'll turn it over an' look at th' brand.'

Hopalong complied, and then they looked at each other and back to the carcass, where a large piece of hide had been neatly trimmed around and skinned off.

'Didn't dare let it wander, an' they plugged it after it got struck,' said Red.

'Careful, they was,' commented his companion. 'They was too careful. If they'd let it wander it wouldn't 'a' told nothin', 'specially if it wandered toward home. But shootin' it, an' then doin' this—I reckon our comeback is takin' on weight.'

'It shore is,' emphatically said Red. 'Cuss this hard ground! It don't tell nothin'. They went north or south—an' not long ago, neither. Which way are you ridin'?'

Hopalong considered. 'If they went either way they'd be seen. I got a feelin' they went right across. Mexicans an' Injuns know that desert, an' there's both kinds workin' for Kane. It allus has been a shore-thing way for 'em. Remember what Idaho said?'

'It can't be done,' said Red.

'Slippery Trendly an' Deacon Rankin did it.'

'But they only crossed one corner,' argued Red.

'McLeod's Texans did it!'

'They didn't cross much more'n a corner,' retorted Red. 'An' look what it did to 'em!'

'It's a straight drive for them valleys along th' Cimarron,' mused Hopalong. 'Nobody to see 'em come or go, good grass to fatten 'em up after they got there, an' plenty of time for blottin' th' brands. I'll bet Kane's got men that knows how to get 'em over. There's water-holes if you only know where to look, an' how to head for 'em; an' some of these half-breeds down here know all of that. If they went north or south on a course far enough east to keep many folks from seein' 'em they'd find it near as dry. Well, we better go down an' meet th' Kid before we do anythin' else. We got our bearin's an' can find th' way back again. What you say?'

Red mounted and led the way. 'If I'm goin' to ride around out here I'm goin' to have plenty of water, an' that means canteens. I'm near chokin' for a drink; an' this cayuse is gettin' mean. Come on.'

'We might pick up some tracks if we hunt right now,' said Hopalong. 'If we wait longer this wind'll blot 'em out. I ain't thirsty,' he lied. 'You go down an' meet th' Kid an' I'll look around east of here. We can't gamble with this: if I find tracks they'll save us a lot of ridin' an' guessin'. Go ahead.'

'If you stay I stay,' growled Red.

'Listen, you chump,' retorted Hopalong. 'It's only a few hours more if I stay out here than if I go with you. Get canteens an' supplies. Th' Kid can bring us more tomorrow. I'm backin' my guess: get a-goin'.'

Red saw the wisdom of the suggestion and wheeled, riding at good speed to the southwest while his friend went eastward, his eyes searching the desert plain. It was night when Red returned, picking his way with a plainsman's instinct to the carcass of the cow, and he softly replied to a low call which came from behind a billow of sand.

Hopalong arose. 'You made good time,' he said.

'Reckon so,' replied Red, riding toward him. 'I only got two canteens an' not much grub. Th' Kid'll be ready for us tomorrow. What about yore cayuse?'

'Don't worry,' chuckled Hopalong. 'It's th' cayuses that's been botherin' me most. They're all right now. I found a little hole with cold, sweet water, an' there's grass around it for th' cayuses. There ain't much, but enough for these two goats. Th' water-hole ain't more'n three feet across an' a foot deep, but it fills up good an' has wet quite a spot around it. An' Red, I found somethin' else!'

'Good; what is it?'

'There's clay around it an' a thin layer of sand over th' clay,' replied Hopalong. 'I found th' prints of a cayuse an' a man, an' they was fresh—not more'n twenty-four hours old if I'm any judge. I cast around on widenin' circles, but couldn't pick up th' trail any distance from th' hole. Th' wind that's been blowin' all day wiped 'em out; but it didn't wipe out much at th' edge of th' water. I could even make it out where he knelt to drink. There you are: a dead cow, with th' brand skinned off; tracks of a man an' a cayuse at that water-hole; no herd tracks, no other cayuse tracks—just them two, an' our suspicions. What you think?'

Red chuckled. 'I think we're gettin' somewhere, cussed slow an' I don't know where; but I'm playin' up that skinned cow. If it was all skinned I'd say a hide hunter might 'a' done it, an' that he made th' tracks you saw; but it wasn't. You should 'a' looked better near th' carcass instead of huntin' up th' water-hole. You might 'a' seen th' tracks of a herd, or what th' wind left of 'em, 'though I reckon they drove that cow off quite a ways before they dropped it.'

'Did you cross any herd tracks after you left me?' asked Hopalong.

'No; why?'

'An' we didn't cross any before you left,' said Hopalong. 'If there's been any to see runnin' east an' west we'd 'a' found 'em. That was all hard ground; an' there was th' wind. There wasn't none to find.'

'Huh!' snorted Red, and after a moment's thought he looked up. 'Mebby that feller found th' cow all swelled up with snakebite, away off from water as he thought, an' just put an end to its misery?'

'Then why did he cut out th' brand?' snapped Hopalong.

'What are you askin' me for?' demanded Red, truculently. 'How'd I know? You shore can ask some darn fool questions!'

'Yo're half-baked,' growled his companion. 'I will be, too, before I get any answer to what I'm askin' myself. I'm aimin' to squat behind a rise north of that water-hole an' wait for my answer if it takes a month. I can get a good view from up there.'

Red, whose hatred for deserts was whole-hearted, looked through the darkness in disgust at his friend. 'You've picked out a fine job for us!' he retorted. 'If yo're right an' they did drive a herd across to th' other side it'll shore be a wait. Be more'n a week, an' mebby two.'

'They've got to drive hard between waters,' replied Hopalong. 'They'll waste no time; an' they won't waste time comin' back again, when they won't have th' cows to hold 'em down. There's one thing shore: They won't be back tomorrow or th' next day, an' we both can ride down an' see th' Kid, an' mebby McCullough. It's too good a lead to throw away. But before we meet Johnny we're goin' to have a better look around, 'specially south an' east.'

'All right,' agreed Red. 'How'd you come to find th' hole?'

'Rode up on a ridge an' saw somethin' green, an' knowin' it wasn't you I went for it,' answered his friend. 'If it had been made for us it couldn't be better. With water, an' grass enough for night grazin', an a good ridge to look from, it's a fine place for us. We'll take turns at it, for it won't feed two cayuses steady. Th' off man can ride west to grass, mebby back to our camp, an' by takin' shifts at it we can mebby save most of th' grass at th' hole.'

'An' mebby get spotted while we're ridin' back an' forth?'

'Th' ridge will take care of that, an' I reckon when it peters out there'll be others to hide us. I'm dead set on this: I'm so set that I'll stick it out all alone rather than pass it by. I tell you I got a