the lead. The great sea of blue grass had been
beaten and crushed by the hoofs of a considerable herd. There was no
difficulty, and the pace he made was rapid. But, even so, Bud's keen
eyes never left the well-defined trail. He was reading it with an
understanding which might well have seemed almost superhuman. And as
he rode he communicated odd fragments of his reading to the man behind
him.

"It's queer," he observed once, when they had covered nearly two miles
of the track. "Ther's a great bunch of horsemen been over this. Kind
o' seems to me as if ther' was as many horses as steers. They're
headin' northeast, too."

Jeff's eyes were as close upon the trail as Bud's, only he read with
less understanding.

"They seem leading out of the valley," he said. "Maybe there's another
camp way up further."

Suddenly Bud drew rein, his great body lurching forward in the saddle
as his horse "propped" itself to a standstill. Jeff's horse followed
suit of its own accord.

"What's doing?"

Jeff's demand was accompanied by a keen look into the other's face.

Bud's eyes were wide with speculation.

"They've broke up--hereabouts," he cried. "More'n half the horses have
cut out. Say, ther'," he went on pointing away to the right. "That's
the way they've took, clear across ther' to the east. The herd's gone
on with jest a few boys to handle it. Say----"

"Look!"

A curious suppressed force rang in Jeff's exclamation. He was pointing
at a bluff of wide-spreading sturdy trees that grew hard in against the
eastern slope of the valley.

Bud followed the direction indicated, and that which he beheld robbed
him of all inclination for further speech.

Long silent moments passed. Moments fraught with poignant, stirring
emotions. Something painful was slowly creeping into the eyes of both
men as they continued to regard this stout cluster of trees.

"Oaks."

The word was muttered.

Jeff vouchsafed no reply, but led the way toward them at a gallop.

They drew up almost in the shadow of the trees, at a point where three
hideous things were hanging suspended by rawhide ropes. They were
swaying gently, stirred almost imperceptibly under the pressure of the
light breeze.

Bud sat stock still upon his horse. For a moment Jeff remained at his
side. Then the latter stirred. He pressed his horse forward, urging
it closer under the overhanging boughs. The animal moved willingly
enough for a few yards. Then p