d, dismounting, began to manipulate
the fence wires with quick, jerky movements of his hands.

CHAPTER XV

"BLACKLEG"

More than once during the next ten minutes Buck cursed himself inwardly
for not having brought along the small but powerful pair of field-glasses
that were tucked away in his bag. He had picked them up at the Divisional
Headquarters only a week or two before the Belleau Woods business, and how
they had stuck to him until his arrival in America remained one of the
minor mysteries of that vanished year. He would have given anything for
them now, for though he could make out fairly well the movements of the
two men, he was too far away to distinguish their faces.

Watching closely, he saw that the first fellow was taking down a short
section of the fence, either by cutting or by pulling out the staples.
When this lay flat he remounted and, joining his companion, the two
proceeded to drive through the gap nothing more significant than a
solitary steer.

It was a yearling, Buck could easily see even at that distance, and he
almost laughed aloud at the sudden let-down of suspense. By this time a
little individual trick of carriage made him suspect that the foremost
puncher was Butch Siegrist, and when the men came into clearer view, he
recognized scarcely without question the big sorrel with white trimmings
on which Kreeger had ridden off that morning. The two men had found a
Shoe-Bar stray; that was all. And yet, on second thought, how did they
come to be here when they were supposed to be working at the very opposite
extremity of the ranch?

It was this query which made Stratton refrain from showing himself. With
considerable annoyance, for time was passing, he waited where he was until
the two men had gone back through the gap in the fence and restored the
wires. He watched them turn northward and ride rapidly across the sandy
waste until at length their diminishing figures disappeared into the
distance. Even then it was ten or fifteen minutes before he emerged from
his seclusion, and when he finally did he headed straight for the young
steer, who had been the cause of so much exertion on the part of the two
men who ordinarily shirked work whenever they could.

Under the lash of a rope, the animal had lumbered across the pasture for
several hundred yards, where he paused languidly to crunch some
bunch-grass. There was an air of lassitude and weakness about the creature
which made Buck, as h