ch
to hang almost any kind of plot.

He leaned forward in the trees, but at that moment Riles clutched
Gardiner's arm and said something in a low voice. The two men rode
through the river, and their words were drowned in the lisp of the
water.

The smile did not leave Travers' lips as he wound up his reel and
stole swiftly along a cattle-track up from the river, but a sudden
light gleamed in his eyes and his muscles hardened with excited
tension. He knew the shanty to which Gardiner referred, as they had
once been there together, and he resolved that if there were going to
be any "doings" in that locality to-night he would furnish a share of
the excitement. Unfortunately, the ford was on a cross-road little
used, and it was two miles back to the ranch. Had he been raised on
the ranges he would not have been caught so far from his horse, but a
Manitoban sometimes uses his legs to walk with, while his brother in
Alberta finds them useful only for wearing schaps and straddling a
saddle. By the time Travers reached the ranch buildings, caught and
saddled his horse, made a fruitless search for his revolver,
substituted a rifle which lay at hand, and at length found himself
upon the trail, darkness was setting in, and Gardiner and Riles had
many miles' start of him.

When the two plotters stopped to let their horses drink at the ford
Gardiner suddenly broke off from their conversation to make a few
remarks about Travers and Harris. Riles had listened indifferently
until his eye caught sight of Travers, half concealed among the
cotton-woods that fringed the stream. He clutched Gardiner's arm.

"S-s-sh," he cautioned. "Jim's just behind the bank. I'm sure I saw
him, an' he heard you, too."

"Good," said Gardiner, quite undisturbed. "Now we can go on." They
reined up their horses and plunged into the swiftly-running water.
"You see," said Gardiner, as the horses took the opposite bank with
great strides, their wet hoofs slipping on the round boulders that
fringed the stream,--"You see, I knew Jim was there all the time.
Those remarks were intended for his benefit."

Riles parted with a great chew of tobacco. "You beat me," he said,
wiping his lips with the back of his hand. "You plumb beat me."

Gardiner enjoyed the note of admiration in his companion's voice. He
enjoyed also the knowledge that Riles was utterly at sea; that he had
no more idea than the horse he rode what lay before them that night.

"It's all quite s