s close behind. "Shore as you're
born she knows what a rope is. See! She ain't fightin' it. I'll bet
you my shirt she's not been loose long. Thet bar V brand now. New
outfit on me. Get off an' haul up to her."

Pan did not need a second suggestion. He was enraptured with the
beauty of the little bay. She was glossy in spite of long hair and
dust and sweat. Her nostrils were distended, her eyes wild, but she
did not impress Pan as being ready to kill him. He took time. He
talked to her. With infinite patience he closed up on her, inch by
inch. And at last he got a hand on her neck. She flinched, she
appeared about to plunge, but Pan's gentle hand, his soothing voice
kept her still. The brand on her flank was old. Pan had no way to
guess how long she had been free, but he concluded not a great while,
because she was not wild. He loosened the noose of his lasso on her
neck. It required more patience and dexterity to hobble her.

"Pard, this little bay is fer your gurl, huh?" queried Blinky, leaning
in his saddle.

"You guessed right, Blink," answered Pan. "Little Bay! that's her
name."

"Wal, now you got thet off your chest s'pose you climb on your hoss an'
look heah," added Blinky.

The tone of his voice, the way he pointed over the cedar fence to the
slope, caused Pan to leap into his saddle. In a moment his sweeping
gaze caught horsemen and pack animals zigzagging down the trail.

"If it's Hardman's outfit, by Gawd, they're comin' back with nerve,"
said Blinky. "But I never figgered they'd come."

Pan cursed under his breath. How maddening to have his happy thoughts
so rudely broken! In a flash he was hard and stern.

"Ride, Blink," he replied briefly.

They called the others and hurriedly got out of the corral into the
open.

"Reckon camp's the best place to meet thet outfit, if they're goin' to
meet us," declared Blinky.

Pan's father exploded in amazed fury.

"Cool off, Dad," advised Pan. "No good to cuss. We're in for
something. And whatever it is, let's be ready."

They made their way back to camp with eyes ever on the zigzag trail
where in openings among the cedars the horsemen could occasionally be
seen.

"Looks like a long string," muttered Pan.

"Shore, but they're stretched out," added Gus. "'Pears to me if they
meant bad for us they wouldn't come pilin' right down thet way."

"Depends on how many in the outfit and what they know," said Pan.
"Hardman's men sure