of the court, this document, together with the barefaced
manner in which you have brought this evidence to the cognizance of
this court--it proves, little Lady Lyn, that you are compact all of
loyalty and clean honor--and the sentence of this court is,
Imprisonment for life!"

He held out his arms, and the culprit crept gladly to prison.

VI

"Then there was a star danc'd, and under that was I born."
--_Much Ado About Nothing._

Cole Ralston rose up in a red windy dawn; he cupped his hands to his
mouth and called out lustily: "Beds!"

All around, men roused up in the half darkness and took up the word,
laughing, as they dressed: "Beds! Beds!"

The call meant that the wagon was to be moved to-day; that each man
was to roll bedding and tarp to a hard and tight-roped cylinder, and
was then to carry it to a stack by the bed wagon.

The cook bent over pots and pans, an active demon by a wind-blown
fire; here already the bobtail ate their private breakfast, that they
might depart in haste to relieve the last guard--now slowly moving the
herd from the bed ground, half a mile away.

Cole moved over where Johnny Dines was making up his bed roll.

"Needn't hurry with that bed, Johnny," he said in an undertone. "You
move the wagon to Preisser Lake this mornin'. Besides, you may want to
hold something out of your bed. You're to slip away after dinner and
edge over towards Hillsboro. Help Hiram bring his cattle back when he
gets ready. Tell him we'll be round Aleman all this week, so he might
better come back through MacCleod's Pass. I don't know within fifty
mile where the John Cross wagon is."

Johnny nodded, abandoning his bed making. "_Bueno, senor!_" He took a
pair of leather chaparejos from the bed, regarded them doubtfully and
threw them back.

"Guess I won't take the chaps. Don't need them much except on the
river work, in the mesquite; and they're so cussed, all-fired hot."

"Say, John, you won't need your mount, I reckon. Just take one horse.
Lot of our runaway horses in the John Cross pasture. You can ride
them--and take your pick for your mount when you come back. That's
all. Road from Upham goes straight west through the mountains. Once
you pass the summit you see your own country."

"Got you," said Johnny.

He went hotfoot to the wagon, grabbed a tin washbasin, held it under
the water-barrel faucet and made a spluttering toilet--first man,
since he had no