.

"I'll join you, young fellow, and I'll join you at our mine. Do you
know, I don't altogether trust you? I want to see those two sets of
location papers with my two eyes before we start. So you'll have lots
of time. Don't you make no mistakes. And when we go, we go together.
Then if we happen to find Adam Forbes by the fire where he caught
young Dines stealin' a maverick of his--"

"How'll you manage that? Forbes is halfway to the head of the canyon by
now."

"That's your way to the left, gentlemen. Take your time, now. I'm in
no hurry and you needn't be, and our horses are all tired from their
run. And you want to be most mighty sure you keep on going. For the
next half hour nobody's going to know what I'm doing but me and
God--and we won't tell."

Caney turned off to the right. Fifteen minutes later he met Adam
Forbes in a tangle of red hills by the head of Redgate.

"Hi, Adam! We got 'em!" he hailed jubilantly. "Caught 'em with the
goods. Two men and five saddles. Both Mexicans."

"They must have given you one hell of a chase, judging from your
horse."

"They did. We spied 'em jest over the divide at the head of Deadman.
There wasn't any chance to head 'em off. We woulda tagged along out of
sight, but they saw us first. They dropped their lead horses and
pulled out--but we got close enough to begin foggin' lead at 'em in a
straight piece of canyon, and they laid 'em down."

"Know 'em?"

"Neither one. Old Mexico men, I judge by the talk of 'em. Hales and
Jody took 'em on down Deadman--them and the lead horses--while I come
back for you."

"Me? Whadya want o' me?"

"Why, you want to go down to represent for yourself. You know that odd
bit of land, grown up to brush, that you bought of Miguel Silva?"

"Took it on a bad debt. What of it?"

"Why, there's an old tumbledown shack on it, and they've been using
that as a store house, tha'sall. By their tell they got eighteen
assorted saddles hid there."

"Well, I'm damned!" said Adam, turning back. "That's a blame fine
howdy-do, ain't it? How long have they been at this lay?"

"Four or five months. More'n that south of here. But they just lately
been extendin' and branchin' out."

"Making new commercial connections, so to speak. Any of the Garfield
_gente_ implicated?"

"One. Albino Villa Neuva."

Adam nodded. "Always thought he was a bad _hombre_, Albino."

"They're going to come clean, these two," said Caney cheerfully. "We
told 'em if they'd tu