meal, Lawler and
the others saw the horse-wrangler and his assistant descending the long
slope with the _remuda_. The horses had fallen far behind, and Lawler
rode to meet them, curious to know what had happened.

When he rode up, the horse-wrangler, a man named Garvin--a stocky
individual with keen, inquiring eyes--advanced to meet him.

"Boss," he said, shortly; "there's somethin' mighty wrong goin' on
behind us. Me an' Ed--my helper--has been kind of hangin' back, bein'
sort of curious. They's a bunch of ornery-lookin' guys trailin' us. I
first saw 'em after we'd struck the bottom of that canon. They was just
comin' around that big bend, an' I saw 'em. They lit out, turnin'
tail--mebbe figurin' I hadn't seen 'em; but pretty soon I seen 'em
again, sort of sneakin' behind us. I reckon if they was square guys they
wouldn't be sneakin' like that--eh?"

CHAPTER XIV

LAWLER'S "NERVE"

When Lawler spoke to Blackburn regarding the news that had been
communicated to him by the horse-wrangler, Blackburn suggested that
himself and several of the Circle L men ride back to ascertain the
object of the trailers.

"We'll ride back an' make 'em talk!" he declared, heatedly.

Lawler, however, would not agree, telling Blackburn that the trail was
free, and that, until the men made some hostile move, there was no
reason why they should be approached.

So the men ate, selected new mounts from their "strings" in the
_remuda_, and again started the big herd forward.

Lawler rode for a time with Garvin, keeping an alert eye on the back
trail. But though he could see far up the canon, where the trail--white
with dust from the passing of the herd--wound its sinuous way upward
into the dark recesses between the towering mesa walls, he could see no
sign of life or movement.

The nonappearance of the mysterious riders was suspicious, for if their
intentions were friendly they would have come boldly on. In fact, if
they were abroad upon an honest errand, they must have found the
slowness of the herd ahead of them irksome; and they would have passed
it as soon as possible, merely to escape the dust cloud raised by the
cattle.

When the afternoon began to wane the herd was far out in the basin,
traveling steadily toward a point where the little river doubled, where
Blackburn intended to camp for the night. And though both Blackburn and
Lawler scanned the back trail intently at intervals, there was still no
sign of the riders