e map. "I climbed, _senores_, up
over the rocks. It is bad, that ground, high, steep--but with care one can
reach a ledge. And along that one can go to look down into the next
canyon. A good place for horses--there is water and grass. I stayed there
watching with the glasses _Don_ Cazar gave my father, the glasses which
bring the far close. There were poles set up in the rocks through which
they brought those horses--making it like a pen we build for wild ones. But
those in it were not wild."

"How many--an' what brands?" Anse wanted to know.

Teodoro shrugged. "There are many trees, rocks; one can not see
everywhere. I counted twenty head--there is room for more. As to brands,
even the glasses could not make those plain to the eyes of one lying
above. But there is no other ranchero who would run horses on the Range
and _Don_ Cazar's _manadas_ are not driven in here--does he want the wild
ones to run off his mares? Horses would be kept so for only one reason,
that they must be hidden. And in such a place as we found they could be
left for maybe a month, or more. _Don_ Cazar's riders do not patrol this
far away from the Stronghold. Had it not been that the Pinto causes so
much trouble, even we would not be here."

"What about the Pinto? If he's all you say, wouldn't he try to get at this
band?" asked Drew.

"No reason if they are saddle stock--no mares among them," Anse said
thoughtfully. "But would those hombres who put 'em there jus' leave--no
guards or nothin'?"

"That is what we do not know," Hilario replied. "We took every precaution
against being seen when Teodoro climbed to look into the canyon. And--this
I believe--we were not suspected if there was any watcher. Otherwise,
otherwise, _senores_, we would not have been alive to greet you when you
rode in last night! This Kitchell, he is like an Apache--here, there,
everywhere. Today I am easier because you have brought the Pima, because
we have two more guns in this camp."

"Why didn't you pull out yourselves?" Anse asked curiously.

"Because, were we watched, that would have made our discovery as plain as
if we stood out in the open and shouted it to the winds. For three days
before we found that trail we had been building a pen for wild ones,
casting about for the tracks and runs of the Pinto's band. Having done so,
we would not leave without completing our drive. And, should those out
there suspect"--Trinfan shook his head--"we would not have lived to rea