slid down
the shale, starting Whetstone from his doze.

Lambert calculated that he was more than a mile from the fence. He
wanted to get over there near enough to catch the fellow at work, so
there would be full justification for what he intended to do.

Whetstone stretched himself to the task, coming out of the broken ground
and up the hill from which the fence-cutter had ridden but a few minutes
before while the marauder was still a considerable distance from his
objective. The man was riding slowly, as if saving his horse for a
chance surprise.

Lambert cut down the distance between them rapidly, and was not more
than three hundred yards behind when the fellow began snipping the wire
with a pair of nippers that glittered in the sun.

Lambert held his horse back, approaching with little noise. The
fence-cutter was rising back to the saddle after cutting the bottom wire
of the second panel when he saw that he was trapped.

Plainly unnerved by this _coup_ of the despised fence-guard, he sat
clutching his reins as if calculating his chance of dashing past the man
who blocked his retreat. Lambert slowed down, not more than fifty yards
between them, waiting for the first move toward a gun. He wanted as much
of the law on his side, even though there was no witness to it, as he
could have, for the sake of his conscience and his peace.

Just a moment the fence-cutter hesitated, making no movement to pull a
gun, then he seemed to decide in a flash that he could not escape the
way that he had come. He leaned low over his horse's neck, as if he
expected Lambert to begin shooting, rode through the gap that he had cut
in the fence, and galloped swiftly into the pasture.

Lambert followed, sensing the scheme at a glance. The rascal intended to
either ride across the pasture, hoping to outrun his pursuer in the
three miles of up-and-down country, or turn when he had a safe lead and
go back. As the chase led away, it became plain that the plan was to
make a run for the farther fence, cut it and get away before Lambert
could come up. That arrangement suited Lambert admirably; it would seem
to give him all the law on his side that any man could ask.

There was a scrubby growth of brush on the hillsides, and tall red
willows along the streams, making a covert here and there for a horse.
The fleeing man took advantage of every offering of this nature, as if
he rode in constant fear of the bullet that he knew was his due. Added
t