. "He's been
working on it this summer, I believe."

"Uh-huh--we were over there this morning. Them Y6 cattle up above his
place are his, I reckon?"

"Yes," said Billy Louise. "He's been putting his wages into cattle for
a year or so. He worked for Junkins last winter. Why?"

"Oh, nothing, I guess! Only he's the only stranger in the country, and
his prosperity ain't accounted for--"

"Oh, but it is!" laughed Billy Louise. "I only wish I had half as
clear a ticket. When he isn't working out, he's wolfing; and every
dollar he gets hold of he puts into that ranch. We've known him a long
time. He doesn't blow his money, you see, like most fellows do."

Floyd found occasion to have a slight argument with his horse, just
then. He happened to be one of the "most" fellows, and the occasion of
his last "blow-out" was fresh in his mind.

"Well, of course, if you know he's all straight, that settles it. But
it sure seems queer--"

"That fellow is straight as a string. Don't you suppose it's some gang
over on the river, Floyd? I'd look around over there, I believe, and
try to get a line on the unaccountables. There's a lot of new settlers
come in, just in the last year or two, and there might be some tough
ones scattered through the bunch. Better see if there has been any
cattle shipped or driven through that way, don't you think?"

"We can try," Floyd assented without eagerness. "But as near as we can
figure, it's too much of a drib-drab proposition for that. A cow and
calf here and there, and so on. We got wind of it first when we went
out to bring in a gentle cow that the deacon wanted on the ranch. We
knew where she was, only she wasn't there when we went after her. We
hunted the hills for a week and couldn't find a sign of her or her
calf. And she had stuck down in the creek bottom all the spring, so it
looked kinda funny." He twisted in the saddle and looked back at the
pine-clotted ridge.

"There's a Y6 calf up there that's a dead ringer for the one we've been
hunting," he observed. "But it's running with a cow that carries
Junkins' old brand, So--" He looked apologetically into the calm eyes
of Billy Louise. "Of course, I don't mean to say there's anything
wrong up there," he hastily assured her. "But that's the reason I
thought I'd ask you about that fellow."

"Oh, it's perfectly right to make sure of everybody," smiled Billy
Louise. "I'd do the same thing myself. But you'll find ev