Hayden looked at Sudden with harassed eyes. Sudden looked at Bill,
and smoothed Mary V's hair--figuratively speaking; in reality he drew his
fingers over a silk-and-lace cap.

"H--well, it's up to your dad. You can ride Jake if he's willin' to take
the chance of you getting your neck broke. I shore won't be responsible."
Bill looked more unhappy than ever, not at all as though he gloried in
his martyrdom to the Rolling R.

"Why, Jake's as gentle as a ki-kitten!" Mary V sobbed.

"Like hell he's gentle!" muttered Bill, so far under his breath that he
did not feel called upon to apologize.

"Well, now, we'll talk about Jake later on. Tell dad and Bill what it was
you saw, and what you mean by a thief on the pay roll. I don't promise
I'll be simply stunned with surprise; that story young Jewel told last
night does seem to have some awful weak points in it--"

"Why dad _Selmer_! You know perfectly well that Johnny Jewel is the soul
of honor! Why you owe an _apology_ to Johnny for ever _thinking_ such a
thing about him! Why, for gracious sake, must everybody on this ranch be
so blind and stupid?" Mary V asked the glorious sunrise that question,
and straightway hid her face behind her handkerchief.

"Well, now, we're wasting time. I apologize to the soul of honor, and
you may ride Jake--when Bill or I are with you to see how he behaves.
Now tell us what you know. This is a serious matter, Mary V. Far too
serious--"

"I should think _I_ am the person who knows how serious it is," Mary V
came from behind her handkerchief to remind him.

"Just who or what did you see, through your field glasses, when you
looked from the top of Snake Ridge?" Sudden wisely chose to waive any
irrelevant arguments.

"Why," said Mary V, "I first saw one of your men dodging along down a
draw, to a place where there were some cottonwood trees. I saw him get
off his horse and wait there for a few minutes, and then I saw another
man riding along the gully from the other direction. And so I saw them
meet, and talk a few minutes, and ride back. And--your man was in a great
hurry, and the other man was a Mexican."

"H-m-m. And who was my--"

"And so I thought I'd ride a little farther, and see what they were
waving their hands toward the south for. And so I did. And it was very
hot," said Mary V pensively, "and I was so tired that when I found I was
close to Sinkhole camp I went on and rested there. And before I left,
that same Mexican came to