f taking the direct road home; that had long become dangerous, and he
rode along abandoned cattle trails. At times he struck, swiftly and
straight, across open country, at times disappeared completely in
favoring canyons, and emerging again, headed winding draws up to the
divide--any ground that carried him in his general direction was good
ground.

He tried always to be thinking just what the other fellow must be
thinking as to favorable points to pick a man off--the fellow patiently
waiting with a rifle day after day in ambush for him. And not having
gone home of late twice by the same route, he meant to keep the other
fellow continually guessing. Today, he was somewhat handicapped, in
that he was riding in broad daylight instead of in the dawn or in the
twilight when the uncertain light made it more difficult with the fine
sights of a Winchester or Savage to cover a distant man.

This hazard, however, called only for a little more precaution, which
Laramie did not begrudge to the pride of disappointing an enemy. At
points in his route where the main road could not well be avoided, he
rode faster and with quickened circumspection. The Double-draw bridge
he could not avoid without a long and difficult detour. Moreover,
there, or beyond, he might expect to intercept the raiding party, and
this was his business.

He did, however, approach the Double-draw bridge with an uncertainty
and a caution not reflected in the pace which he rode toward it; but
his horse was under close control and his rifle carefully in hand.

Despite his misgivings, no enemy was sighted. Only a flight of bank
swallows, disturbed by the footfalls of his horse, darted noisily from
their nests under the south bridge abutment and scattered twenty ways
in the sunshine. Spurring freely, as they flew away, Laramie galloped
briskly across the bottoms and up the hill. Skirting the long trail
toward home, he rode on without meeting a living soul or hearing the
unwelcome singing of a bullet.

In fact, things were too quiet; the silence and the absence of any sort
of life as he approached his ranch were a surprise. The few head of
cattle and horses he usually met, when riding home along the creek,
were nowhere to be seen. Evidently the raid had been made. To survey
the whole scene without exposing himself, Laramie rode out of the
tangle along the creek bottom and took the first draw that would bring
him out among the southern hills. As he eme