`How do I know that half o' ye ain't in with 'em?' snapped Simon savagely, for the continual loss of his cattle was hitting him sorely. `Yu don't seem no strike their trail very lively.'
Blaynes ground out an oath. `Yu ain't no call to say that o' the boys,' he remonstrated. `We're all a-doin' our best. Them war-paints is hard to canch in this kind o' country.'
`Huh! Yu still reckon it's 'Paches, do yu?' said Simon. `Well, yo're wrong, Blaynes. Redskins might lift a stray cow or two for the meat, but they wouldn't take 'em by the score. No, sir, it's an organized gang o' rustlers, an' it's up to yu to corral 'em.'
He turned and went indoors, the foreman's eyes following him with a malignant look. This changed magically to a smile as Noreen came out.
`Mornin', Miss Norry. Yo're lookin' fine in spite o' yore shakeup last night,' was his greeting.
`I wasn't hurt--only a wee bit scared,' she admitted.
`Some folks has all the luck. Wish I'd bin there,' said the foreman regretfully, with a look which made the girl turn sharply away. `What do yu think o' this new guy?'
`Naturally my principal feeling is one of gratitude,' returned the girl. `He struck me as being capable, and'--she added roguishly--`rather good-looking.'
Blaynes frowned. He had got more than he bargained for. `Looks ain't much to go on,' he said. `I've seed cattle-thieves that had him beat a mile thataway, an' as I told the Old Man just now, we can't afford to run risks with strangers when we're losin' steers. He'll do to keep an eye on that feller.'
`I wonder if he's married,' the girl speculated, with a mischievous smile.
`Ugh! Probably got half a dozen wives scattered around the country--that sort usually has,' snorted the foreman.
`He doesn't look like a Mormon; but still, I'll help oy keeping an eye on him, as you suggest, Blaynes,' Noreen laughed as she turned away.
Rattler waited until she was out of earshot and then swore fervently. It was distinctly not his lucky morning.
Green soon ranged alongside Durran, whose eyes opened wide when they saw the horse his companion was riding; he had not witnessed the scene at the corral.
`How come yu on that lump o' deviltry?' he asked.
`Oh, I just climbed up on him,' said Green airily.
`Lots of us has done that, but nary one could stay there,' was the reply. `Yu must be a medicine-man with hosses.'
`I savvy them,' was Green's answer.
Durran's comment was an inarticulate grunt, and for some miles they loped steadily over the grassy plain without exchanging a word, though the new man did not fail to note the covert, appraising glances of the other.
`Feed a-plenty,' he remarked presently. `If she's all like this, the Y Z should carry some cattle.'
`She ain't all like this, but there's enough that is,' Durran replied. `She'd be one big ranch if the owner knew his job.' `I heard he was a good cattleman,' Green said.
`Yu heard correct--he was a good cattleman; but he started gittin' old quite a piece ago, an' it's tellin' on him. Why, there's cows bein' stole every week, an' he don't do nothin'. If it wasn't for Rattler, them rustlers would 'a got the whole shootin' match by now.' `Good man, Rattler, eh?' queried Green.
`Yu said it,' responded Durran, but with no undue enthusiasm in his tone. `Up to his work. Yes, sir. An' it wouldn't astonish me none to find him ownin' this ranch some day. I've a hunch it'll pay to tie to him.'
They had left the undulating plain and were entering a stretch of rough country which, gashed and scarred, formed the base to a great range of hills, the jagged ridge-line of which showed clear against the sky. The ground in front of them presented a multiplicity of character. Miniature deserts, arid little areas of sand and cactus, interspersed with brush-filled draws, tiny canyons with verdure-clad, overhanging sides, valleys carpeted with lush grass and fed by trickling streams, huge masses of rock, apparently hurled by some mighty hand from the distant range, all jumbled together in inextricable confusion. And behind it all the black belt of pines which clothed the lower slopes of the mountains.
`Best keep yer eyes open, in case we git separated,' warned Durran. `We call this the Maze, an' it's a damned sight easier to git into than out of, 'specially for a stranger.'
`Reckon yo're right,' Green agreed. `What do they call the hills over there?'
`Big Chief Range,' replied Durran. `An' mighty mean country 'cept for redskins an' rustlers.'
They now began to come upon signs of strayed cattle, and were too fully occupied in routing them out of the brush and starting them back to the plain for converse. Green soon discovered that his mount, though obviously new to the work, had the inherited instincts of a cow-pony, and was quick to learn.
`Yu an' me is goin' to get along fine, Blue,' the rider soliloquized after a tussle with a pugnacious steer which had to be roped and thrown before it would listen to reason. This was by no means the only incident of the kind, for the strays were in a half-wild state, and showed a tendency to `go on the prod' when driven from their retreat.
Presently, riding through a small grassy glade surrounded by cottonwoods, Green pulled up sharply. At his feet lay a dead cow, and a few yards away were the ashes of a tiny fire. His hail brought Durran to the spot.
"Paches,' he said at once, pointing to a broken feather, lying as though accidentally dropped, near the carcase. The new hand picked it up and examined it thoughtfully.
`Ain't like Injuns to leave their name and address,' he said slowly. `Nor meat either.'
`Huh! They was interrupted an' had to make a quick getaway,' suggested Durran.
Green was examining the dead cow. It had been shot in the head, and round the bullet-hole the hair was singed.
`So they fired that shot to advertise their whereabouts,' he said. `No, that don't explain it.'
`Well, that war-bonnet plume talks plenty loud enough for me,' returned Durran, with a dark look. `Fac's is fac's.' Green saw that the man's mind was made up, and that argument would be futile, so he dropped the subject. He could not fail to note, however, that Durran's attitude for the rest of the day was a sulky one; apparently he resented the questioning of his judgment, and his conversation was confined to the work in hand.
It was getting towards evening when they returned to the ranch, and they were as hungry as a day in the saddle can make a man. Nevertheless, Green rode past the bunkhouse and up to the owner's dwelling. Old Simon was on the verandah. He listened quietly to the new hand's report, looked at the feather, and Len said :
`Yu got any ideas about it?'
I'm guessin' it ain't 'Paches, but they want us to think it is,' Green replied. `That feather is plumb clumsy--even a Reservation brave ain't that careless. An' what was the fire for? Injuns don't carry runnin'-irons. 'Sides, the hosses they rode was shod, even the grass trail showed that.'
`Yu didn't follow the tracks?'
`No,' explained Green. `Durran didn't seem interested, an' I had no orders.'
The old man regarded him steadily for a while, and then said, 'Yo're gettin' 'em now. I want this rustler business cleaned up. That's yore job.'
`Better not advertise it,' suggested Green.
`I ain't a-goin to; I'll explain to Blaynes that yo're on special work for me,' said the rancher.
Green had his own ideas as to the importance Blaynes would attach to his employer's explanation, and he was soon to learn that he was right, for at that moment the foreman came up. There was a note of triumph in his tone as he said:
`Well, Simon, Durran tells me that he come upon some more rustler work, with shore Injun sign; I reckon that settles it.'
`Green's just been tellin' me he come on it,' said Old Simon quietly.
`Well, they was together anyway,' replied Rattler, with a surly glance at the new hand. `Durran reported to me as foreman, which was the proper thing to do.'