njured member for inspection.

Allen's grin could grow no broader, and now he showed his increased
satisfaction with a subdued cackle. He backed stealthily out of the
shrubbery, taking a final glance at the two men. He saw Hollis leading
Dunlavey toward a small water hole at the rear of the cabin; saw him
bathing Dunlavey's injured hand and binding it with his handkerchief.

Then Allen proceeded to his pony, mounted, and departed for the court
house to tell Judge Graney the news that kept his own face continually
in a smile.

CHAPTER XXXI

AFTERWARD

From Razor-Back ridge the big basin spread away to the Blue Peak
mountains. On the opposite side of the ridge began the big plain on
which, snuggled behind some cottonwood trees, were the Circle Cross
buildings. From where Hollis and Nellie Hazelton sat on the ridge they
could look miles down the Coyote trail, into Devil's Hollow; could see
the two big cottonwood trees that stood beside Big Elk crossing, above
which, on the night of the storm, Hollis had been attacked by Dunlavey's
men. Back on the stretch of plain above the basin they could make out
the Circle Bar buildings, lying close to the banks of the river.

It was in the late afternoon and the sun had gone down behind the Blue
Peaks, though its last rays were just touching the crest of the ridge
near Hollis and Nellie. He had called her attention to the sinking sun,
telling her that it was time they started for the Circle Bar.

"Wait," she said; "someone is coming up the Coyote trail. I have been
watching him for ten minutes."

Hollis faced the trail and watched also. In a quarter of an hour the
horseman came out of Devil's Hollow. Hollis and Nellie could see him
plainly as he guided his pony around the huge boulders that filled the
place. Hollis smiled whimsically.

"It's the poet," he told Nellie, catching her gaze and grinning widely
at her. "I sent him to Dry Bottom this noon for the mail--Potter is
going to stay in town over night."

For an instant it seemed that Ace would not see them, and Hollis rose
from the rock on which he had been sitting and halloed to him. He
responded with a shout and urged his pony up the steep side of the slope
and then along the crest until he came within a few feet of where they
sat. He dismounted and came forward, grinning broadly.

"Takin' the view?" he questioned. His eyes twinkled. "Sometimes there's
a heap of poetry could be got out of this county. But--"