arly in rustling cattle from the reservation herds. It
was Bill Talpers who had evolved the neat little plan of changing the ID
brand of the Interior Department to the "two-pole pumpkin" brand, which
was done merely by extending another semicircle to the left of the "I"
and connecting that letter and the "D" at top and bottom, thus making
two perpendicular lines in a flattened circle.

The returns from his interest in the gang's rustling operations had been
far more than Bill had ever secured from his store. In fact,
storekeeping was played out. Bill never would have kept it up except for
the opportunity it gave him to find out what was going on. To be sure,
he should have played safe and kept away from such things as that affair
on the Dollar Sign road. But he could have come clear even there if it
had not been for the uncanny knowledge possessed by that girl. The
thought of what would happen if she took a notion to tell McFann how he
had been "double-crossed" by his partner gave Talpers something
approaching a chill. The half-breed was docile enough as long as he
thought he was being fairly dealt with. But once let him find out that
he had been unfairly treated, all the Indian in him would come to the
surface with a rush! Fortunately the girl was proving herself to be
close-mouthed. She had traveled for hours with the half-breed without
telling him of Talpers's perfidy. Now Bill would see to it that she got
no chance to talk with McFann. The half-breed was too tender-hearted
where women were concerned. That much had been proved when he had fallen
down in the matter of the work he had been sent out to do. If she had a
chance the girl might even persuade him to let her escape, which was not
going to do at all. If anybody was to be left holding the sack at the
end of the adventure, it would not be Bill Talpers!

With various stratagems being brought to mind, only to be rejected one
after another, Talpers watched the tent until midnight, the half-breed
sleeping near at hand. Then Bill turned in while McFann kept watch. As
for Helen, she slept the sleep of exhaustion until wakened by the touch
of daylight on the canvas.

With senses preternaturally sharpened, as they generally are during
one's first hours in the wilderness, Helen listened. She heard Talpers
stirring about among the horses. It was evident that he was alarmed
about something, as he was pulling the picket-pins and bringing the
animals closer to the center o