the succeeding darkness he was passed
unnoticed by the returning Americans.

The Olla men, also taken by surprise, had acted quickly. Better
mounted than most of their pursuers, who rode tired horses, the Olla
riders spread at the first warning shout. Familiar with the country,
they were able to get away unscathed, partly because the attention of
the pursuers was centered chiefly on the herd.

It had been a case of each man for himself with the Olla riders, the
exceptions to this being Brevoort and Pete, who had ridden together
from the moment that Pete had shouted that sudden warning to his
companions at the gateway, where they had sat their horses waiting for
him to return from his mission to Ortez. Brent himself had posted a
lookout at the northern gateway of the ranch, with instructions to
watch for any possible pursuit. This cowboy, wise in his generation,
had caught sight of a large body of riders bearing down from the north.
He knew by the way they rode that they meant business. He knew also
that they were too many for the Olla men. He focused his glass on
them, got one good look, and calmly turned his horse and rode along the
line fence to an arroyo, where he dismounted and waited until the
visiting gentlemen had got well onto the Olla territory. Then he
mounted and took his leisurely way toward space. He knew that the
Olla, as a safe and paying proposition, had ceased to exist.

Brent, mounted on one of the thoroughbreds, lost no time in heading for
Sanborn and the railroad, once he had ridden clear of the running
skirmish with the northerners. He surmised that Pete and Brevoort
would make for Sanborn--and they had The Spider's money. Brent also
knew that he had a faster horse than either of them. If he could reach
Sanborn ahead of them, he would have the advantage of cover--and of
taking them by surprise . . .

The country was fairly open from the eastern boundary of the Olla to
within a few miles of Sanborn, where a veritable forest of cacti had
sprung up--one of those peculiar patches of desert growth, outlined in
a huge square as definitely as though it had been planted by man. The
wagon-road passed close to the northern edge of this freakish forest,
and having passed, swung off toward the railroad, which it finally
paralleled. It was in this vantage-ground of heavy shadow that Brent
had planned to waylay Brevoort and Pete. To avoid chance discovery,
Brent had ridden considerably out of h