s a fight! There's over a
dozen of 'em, though I think Lefty here wounded one, just after
Whiteman was killed. We saw red stains on the sagebrush for a hundred
yards along the cattle trail."

Mounting a long rise, they began to descend again. A fertile valley
stretched out beneath them, green with grass and watered by the bluest
little stream that Kid Wolf had ever seen. It was a lovely spot; it
was small wonder that Gentleman John wished to add the Diamond D to his
holdings.

"That's Blue-bottle Creek," announced Red Morton. "Queer that we don't
see any cattle. There's not a steer in sight. They ought to be
feedin' through here."

There was no sign of anything moving throughout all the basin, either
human or cattle. The silence was unbroken, save for the steady
drumming of the little party's pony hoofs.

"There's the sod house--over there in those trees," said Red, after
another mile.

He was worried. The two other Diamond D men, too, were showing signs
of nervousness. Had the south herd gone the way of the other?

They neared the sod house--a structure crudely built of layers of
earth. It had one door and one window, and near it was a
corral--empty. There was no sign of any one about, and there was no
reply to Red's eager shout.

"Oh, Joe!" he hailed.

His face was a shade paler, as he quickly swung himself out of his
saddle. He entered the sod house at a half run.

"Is anything wrong?" Train shouted.

Then they heard Red Morton cry out in grief and horror. Without
waiting for anything more, The Kid and the two Diamond D riders
dismounted and raced toward the sod hut. None of them was prepared for
the terrible thing they found there.

CHAPTER XVIII

ON BLACKSNAKE'S TRAIL

At first, they could see little, for not much light filtered through
the small door and window. Then details of the interior began to grow
more distinct in the hut's one room. A tarp had been tacked over the
dirt ceiling to keep scorpions and centipedes from dropping down on the
bunks below. There was only a little furniture, and that of a crude
sort. Some of it was smashed, as if in a scuffle.

These things, however, were not noticed until later. What the visitors
saw was the form of a man with legs and arms outstretched at queer
angles.

Kid Wolf was accustomed to horrible sights, but he remembered this one
ever afterward. The scene was stamped on his mind like a fragment of
some wild nightmare.

T