man with a
grim, savage pity.

"The damned cowards!" he said, his voice quivering. "There must have
been a dozen of them--to do him up like that!"

"Seven," returned Ed Hazelton grimly. "They left their trail there; I
counted the hoof prints, an' they led down the slope toward Big Elk
crossin'." He looked at Norton with a frown. "We can't do anything
here," he said shortly, "until the doctor comes. I'll take you down
where I found him."

They went out and mounted their ponies. Down the trail a mile or so they
came to a level that led away toward Rabbit-Ear Creek. From the level
they could see the Circle Cross buildings, scattered over a small
stretch of plain on the opposite side of the river. There was no life
around them, no movement. Norton grimaced toward them.

Hazelton halted his pony in some tall grass near a bare, sandy spot on
the plains. The grass here grew only in patches and Norton could plainly
see a number of hoof prints in the sand. One single set led away across
the plains toward the Dry Bottom trail. Seeing the knowing expression in
Norton's eyes, Hazelton spoke quietly.

"That's Hollis's trail. He must have took the Dry Bottom trail an' lost
it in the storm. Potter says he would probably take it because it's
shorter. Anyways, it's his trail; I followed it back into the hills
until I was sure. I saw that he had been comin' from Dry Bottom. He lost
his way an' rode over here. I remember there was an awful darkness, for
I was out scoutin' around to see if my stock was all right. Well, he got
this far--rode right up to the edge of the butte over there an' then
come back this way. Then he met--well, the men that did it."

"They all stood there for a little while; you can see where their horses
pawed. Then mebbe they started somethin', for you can see where Hollis's
pony throwed up a lot of sand, tryin' to break out. The others were in a
circle--you can see that. I've figured it out that Hollis saw there
wasn't any chance for him against so many an' he tried to hit the breeze
away from here. I'll show you."

They followed the hoof prints down the slope and saw that all the riders
must have been traveling fast at this point, for the earth was cut and
the hoof prints bunched fore and aft. They ran only a little way,
however. About a hundred yards down the slope, in a stretch of bare,
sandy soil, the horses had evidently come to a halt again, for they were
bunched well together and there were many of th