ing how it was that the best man did n't win.

In the ensuing silence Todd found his opportunity to speak.

"I just heard something," he said. "Steve Brown is herding sheep."

"That's nothing," said the story-teller. "He done that a couple of
times before."

"And they say there is a woman out there with him," added Todd.

"A woman! What woman?"

"I don't know. Tuck Reedy rode past and saw them sitting by the fire.
Ed Curtis saw her too."

"Whose sheep's he herdin'?" asked big Tom Brodie.

"I don't know anything about the sheep. He's out there tending them.
And she's out there with him."

"I know what he's doing with them," said Harry Lee. "He's
administrating them."

"What have they got?" inquired big Tom.

"Who's got what?"

"What is it that's ailin' them? I say, what have they _got_?" repeated
Tom assertively, being a little in liquor.

"They have n't got anything. I said he is administrating them. When a
man dies, the court chooses somebody that's reliable to settle up what
he leaves. And this other fellow sees that everything is tended to and
done on the square. They were John Clarkson's sheep, and they belong
to his little boy. He is administrating them."

"Huh!" grunted Tom, whose untutored mind now needed a rest.

"But how about this woman?" asked Frank Sloan.

"She's turned her horse out to grass; and she's out there with him.
Just him and her. All alone."

"Pshaw!" said Harry Lee. "They ain't alone. How could Tuck Reedy tell
she was alone just by the light of the fire? There might have been
somebody in the shack. Or behind it."

"And maybe the horse had just pulled up his stake-rope," said another.

"Or maybe the horse had hobbles on," added another.

"_Did n't I tell you Ed Curtis saw the same woman?_" said Todd, now
growing assertive. "And she was going out there alone. And if there
was anybody else around would n't they be eating supper with them? And
if a horse was dragging a stake-rope would n't Tuck Reedy know it?"

To make the matter unquestionable he now started at the very beginning
and told it all, going into details and pointing out how one witness
corroborated another.

"You say she wore a felt hat? And was light-haired?"

"Yes. It was black. It was turned up at the side."

"Hell! I know who that is!" exclaimed Sloan.

"Why, that's a woman that was up here at Preston. Said she was an
actress. She came along with a fellow and started a saloon o