uit. This
thing won't be settled until something happens--and I reckon it's going
to happen soon."

"Well, I'm sure sittin' on the dynamite," said Sundown lugubriously.
"I reckoned to settle down and git m--me farm to goin' and keep out of
trouble. Now it looks like I was the cat what fell out of a tree into
a dog-fight by mistake. They was nothin' left of that cat."

Shoop laughed. "We'll see that you come out all right."

Sundown accepted this meager consolation with a grimace. Then his face
beamed. "Say! What's the matter of me tellin' the sheriff that
there's like to be doin's--and mebby he could come over and kind of
scare 'em off."

"The idea is all right, Sun. But Jim is a married man. Most of his
deputies are married. If it comes to a mix some of 'em 'd get it sure.
Now there isn't a married man on the Concho--which makes a lot of
difference. Sabe?"

"I reckon that's right," admitted Sundown, "Killin' a married man is
like killin' the whole fambly."

"And you're a single man--so you're all right," said Shoop.

"Gee Gosh! Mebby that ought to make me feel good, but it don't.
Supposin' a fella was goin' to get married?"

"Then--he'd--better wait," said Corliss, smiling at his foreman.

Corliss stood up and yawned. "Oh, say, Sun, where'd you get that
beef?" he asked casually.

"The beef? Why, a Chola come along here day afore yesterday and say if
I wanted some meat. I says yes. Then he rides off and purty soon he
comes back with a hind-quarter on his saddle. I give him two dollars
for it. It looked kind of funny, but I thought he was mebby campin'
out there somewhere and peddlin' meat."

Shoop and Corliss glanced at each other. "They don't peddle meat that
way in this country, Sun. What did the Mexican look like?"

"Kind of fat and greasy-like, and he was as cross-eyed as a rabbit
watchin' two dogs to onct."

"That so? Let's have a look at that hind-quarter."

"Sure! Over there in the well-shed."

When Corliss returned, he nodded to Shoop. Then he turned to Sundown.
"We found a Two-Bar-O steer killed right close to here yesterday.
Looks queer. Well, we'll be fanning it. I'll send to Antelope and
have them order the pump and some pipe. Got plenty of grub?"

"Plenty 'nough for a couple of weeks."

"All right. So-long. Keep your eye on things."

CHAPTER XXV

VAMOSE, EH?

The intermittent popping of the gasoline engine, as it forced water to
the big, unpainted