t it was the Cross-Triangle
brand that had been changed, because the Cross-Triangle was the only
brand in that part of the country that could be changed into the
Four-Bar-M.

Patches, dropping his easy manner, and speaking straight to the point,
said, "Look here, Joe, you and I might as well get down to cases. You
know I am your friend, and I don't want to see you in trouble, but you
can take it from me that you are in mighty serious trouble right now. I
was hiding right there in those bushes, close enough to see all that
happened, and I know that this is a Cross-Triangle calf, and that Nick
and you worked the brand over. You know that it means the penitentiary
for you, as well as for Nick, if the boys don't string you both up
without any ceremony."

Patches paused to let his words sink in.

Joe's face was ashy white, and he was shaking with fright, as he stole a
sneaking look toward his horse.

Patches added sharply, "You can't give me the slip, either; I can kill
you before you get half way to your horse."

Trapped and helpless, Joe looked pleadingly at his captor. "You wouldn't
send me up, would you, now, Patches?" he whined. "You an' me's good
friends, ain't we? Anyway he wouldn't let me go to the pen, an' the boys
wouldn't dast do nothin' to me when they knew."

"Whom are you talking about?" demanded Patches. "Nick? Don't be a fool,
Joe; Nick will be there right alongside of you."

"I ain't meanin' Nick; I mean _him_ over there at the
Cross-Triangle--Professor Parkhill. I'm a-tellin' you that _he_ wouldn't
let you do nothin' to me."

"Forget it, Joe," came the reply, without an instant's hesitation. "You
know as well as I do how much chance Professor Parkhill, or anyone else,
would have, trying to keep the boys from making you and Nick dance on
nothing, once they hear of this. Besides, the professor is not in the
valley now."

The poor outcast's fright was pitiful. "You ain't meanin' that he--that
he's gone?" he gasped.

"Listen, Joe," said Patches quickly. "I can do more for you than he
could, even if he were here. You know I am your friend, and I don't want
to see a good fellow like you sent to prison for fifteen or twenty
years, or, perhaps, hanged. But there's only one way that I can see for
me to save you. You must go with me to the Cross-Triangle, and tell Mr.
Baldwin all about it, how you were just working for Nick, and how he
made you help him do this, and all that you know. If you do that, we