volunteered to go in p

ould not

e three shall ride the fences, and if we encounter a

g; then they ate an uncomfortable lunch under the thickest hackberry-tree they could find, after which they resumed their patrol. Ricardo's tongue at length ran dow

d-wire strands of the fence they had been following were clipped. A number of horse

ve come and gone, with the

it?" Law indicated the past

on answered,

it was broken by tiny clumps of mesquite and low, sprawling beds of cactus. Perhaps a half-mile away, however, began a long, na

er, to brand," he said,

e'll be

d, following the tracks to the nearest point of

shall keep to the middle. Walk your horses, for I shall go slowly."

's face puckered into an expression of doubt, and, removing hi

se men, and they will not wait to learn that you a

a dubious shake of the head Ricardo rode away,

to believe the latter-he had often averred that Bessie Belle knew quite as much as or more than he. At any rate she picked her way with admirable care, her hoofs made almost no sound upon the wet soil; only the complaint of the saddle leat

k encouragingly, whereupon she turned her head and it seemed to the ride