`Yeah, you'll find the beasts bunched up--preparations for a round-up, likely. The outfit is bone-lazy 'cept one--Green's sidekick, Yorky; he's awake.'
`That damned young cub?' Bull exploded. `I've a score to settle with him. Awright, Greg; you've hired a man.'
When the visitor had departed, Bardoe indulged in a burst of laughter. `Bleedin' is a game two can play at, Mister Clever Cullin, but I'm with you part o' the way. Then mebbe it'll be you to git the lesson.'
The rustler's face was never pleasing; now it was hideous--a jeering mask of hatred.
The sun, slowly climbing into the blue vault above, was warming the keen, sage-scented air, which was yet cool enoughto make movement pleasurable. Away on the horizon the mountains were beginning to unwind their swathed wrappings of mist. It was a grand sight, but Drait's eyes were more often--unknown to her--on the girl by his side, noting the upright poise of her lissome body, the curve of her cheek, or the errant curl with which the light breeze was playing.
Mary too, was less attentive to the view. She was thinking of a ride with Cullin two days earlier. The contrast was marked. But she had to admit that he was more restful than the impetuous admirer from the Big C.
`Feed looks fine,' he remarked presently. `Not many cattle showin'.'
It was not long before they came across a score or more, and got near enough to look them over. `In good shape,' Drait conceded. `But there's some need brandin'.'
Mary looked annoyed. `That should have been attended to. I told Sturm he would find several about here.'
`How's he shapin'?'
She said the man was satisfactory, so far. They reached another small herd, containing more which had `missed the iron.' `I guess Gilman's fellas had an easy time,' Drait commented.
`They're still having it, apparently,' Mary said bitterly. It hurt her pride that this man, especially, should find subject for criticism when she had hoped for praise; Sturm must be made to understand he was there to obey orders.
`Know anythin' about yore fellas?'
`They close right up when I'm near. All I get out of them is 'Yes, ma'am,' or 'No, ma'am.' They're different from the Valley men.'
Draft grinned. `You bet they are. I'm boss, but those rascals are my friends, an' they know that, come what may, I'll stand by any or all of 'em to the finish. Such wouldn't serve under a Gilman. Now, what's yore trouble?'
She was about to deny, but he interrupted : `Don't say it; yore lips weren't made for lyin'--Mary.' The word slipped out --he had not meant to use it. He saw the red tide rise in her cheeks, out he could not know that her veins were tingling as they had not done when Cullin took the same liberty. `You see,' he went on hurriedly: `This is a stiff job you've taken on, an' it can't be mastered in a few weeks, though you've done amazin' well. O' course, you don't have to tell me, but....'
`I'm losing cattle,' she confessed helplessly. `Just a score perhaps at a time.'
`What's yore foreman doin' about it?'
The men are night-riding, but while they watch one part of the range, the thieves visit another.'
`Someone's gettin' information. Don't worry; these things happen, an' you must expect a loss now an' again, but it's gotta be looked into.'
Presently they encountered Yorky. `Able to find yore way around better?' Drait wanted to know. `I'm learnin' how th' land lies,' the boy replied.
`Mind the land don't learn how you lie,' the nester grinned. `These missin' steers now; got anythin' to tell us?'
`Yestiddy there was fifty right here, an' today I can't round up thirty; also, hoss-tracks in circles don't come o' theirselves.' `Have you reported to Sturm?' Mary asked.
`No, ma'am, I was aimin' to try an' track 'em down m'self.' `You any good at trailin'?' Nick asked.
`Not very,' was the modest reply. `Jim can read sign like an Injun.'
`We'll try him out. He'll be over in the mornin', an' we won't tell even the foreman. Sabe?'
`I'll be as dumb as a dead nigger,' Yorky promised.
When they reached the house, the sight of newly-turned soil jogged her memory. `I haven't thanked you for that suggestion,' she said.
Nick looked unhappy. `It warn't mine,' he blurted out. `It was Jim's, an' he fathered it on me, I dunno why. Don't let on I told you--I expect he had a reason.'
Her woman's instinct enabled her to make a near guess, and neither of the men suffered in her estimation by the disclosure. `We'll round up some roots for you--there's plenty in the Valley,' Drait went on.
`I'd rather have those than any,' she replied eagerly, and saw his grave face light up.
`Which is fine to hear,' he said.
The firm clasp of his fingers remained after he had left. Her eyes softened at the puncher's attempt to do his friend a good turn, and that friend's refusal to accept credit not due to him. She went into the kitchen.
`Lindy, what do you think of Mister Green?'
- `Reckon he's all man, honey, an' dey's sca'ce. Massa Nick's one, foh sho', but dat Cullin
`Is kind to me,' Mary reminded sharply.
The black woman shook her head; she was not to be convinced.
Chapter XVIII
Early morning found Sudden at the S P, and having collected Yorky, heading for the scene of the latest raid. Sturm saw them, but having been told that the boy was showing the visitor over the range, was not interested; if the time of a hand was wasted, it was the owner's affair.
The evidence on the spot was plain enough. Sudden studied the tracks closely.
`About twenty-five cows, convoyed by five riders,' he decided. `One of 'em forkin' a shod hoss, with a cross in the off hind shoe, for luck, mebbe.'
The depth of the imprints told that the beasts had been hard-driven, but after a mile had been covered, the pace fell off as the undulating plain gave place to broken, wild country.
`I ain't envying' 'em,' Sudden remarked. `Must 'a' been a moon that night.'
`There was,' Yorky said. `An' they wasn't usin' th' trail for the first time neither.'
They had arrived at the edge of a miniature desert, roughly circular in shape, and about a mile across. Into this the trail plunged and ceased abruptly; a wind had swept the light, powdery sand into tiny ridges, obliterating every trace.
`Gotta ride around her an' find out where they came off,' the puncher said. `Take the left an' keep agoin' till we meet.'
It was Yorky who found the spot, the rustlers having borne well to his side in crossing the arid expanse. This was their first real attempt to blind their tracks, but it was followed by another necessitating a search of the oanks of a stream along which the stolen cattle had been driven. A stretch of gravel next gave trouble, but after that the raiders apparently regarded themselves as safe. Finally, a stone-littered, winding pathway brought the trailers to what appeared to be a pile of rock. Closer inspection revealed an opening, masked by foliage, and secured by a barrier of newly-cut poles. Within was a cuplike depression, grass-carpeted, on which a herd was grazing. There was no sign of any herders, so they entered and walked their mounts forward until the brands were discernible.
`S P--over a hundred of 'em,' the puncher said. `An' as this place can't be far from Bardoe's range, it's an easy guess who fetched 'em here. Well, gotta get back an' report to Nick; I ain't trustin' Sturm.'
They took their time on the return journey, and evening was approaching when Shadow Valley was reached. Drait was awaiting them.
`Bardoe, no doubt,' he agreed. `That place is the Devil's Pocket; we'll have 'em out o' there tomorrow.'
`An' take 'em back to the S P?' Sudden asked.
`To be lifted again? No, they'll be safer here. We'll say nothin'; it'll be a pleasant surprise for--Miss Darrell. You two'll have to let her think you've failed, just for the time.'
`That's no matter,' Sudden smiled. `But ain't it rather risky to have stolen cows in the Valley?'
