tead, and, sitting on the stoop as the air
grew cooler, related his adventures.

"I guess my chiefs wouldn't be pleased to hear me; we're not encouraged
to talk, but there's a reason for it, as you'll see when I'm through,"
he said, and plunged abruptly into his narrative.

It proved to be a moving tale of weary rides in scorching heat and in
the dusk of night, of rebuffs and daunting failures. Flett, as he
admitted, had several times been cleverly misled and had done some
unwise things, but he had never lost his patience nor relaxed his
efforts. Slowly and doggedly, picking up scraps of information where
he could, he had trailed his men to the frontier, where his real
troubles had begun. Once that he crossed it, he had no authority, and
the American sheriffs and deputies were not invariably sympathetic.
Some, he concluded, were unduly influenced by local opinion, which was
not in favor of interfering with people who confined their depredations
to Canadian horses. Others, who acknowledged past favors from Regina,
foresaw troublesome complications before he could be allowed to deport
the offenders; but some, with a strong sense of duty, offered willing
help, and that was how he had been able to make the arrests on Canadian
soil.

"Now," he concluded, "we tracked these men from point to point and I've
evidence to prove most of their moves, but they never had the four
horses in a bunch until they made Montana, which is a point against us.
We can show they were working as a gang, that they were altogether with
the horses on American soil, but as we haven't corralled the only man
Mr. Grant could swear to, there's only one way of proving how they got
them. You see where all this leads?"

"It looks as if you depended on my evidence for a conviction," said
George.

Flett nodded.

"You saw Mr. Grant attacked and the horses run off. You can identify
one man, and we'll connect him with the rest."

He took out a paper and handed it to George.

"It's my duty to serve you with this; and now that it's done, I'll warn
you to watch out until after the trial. If we can convict these
fellows, we smash the crowd, but we'd be helpless without you."

George opened the document and found it a formal summons to attend the
court at Regina on a date specified. Then he produced another paper
and gave it to Flett with a smile.

"The opposition seem to recognize my importance, and they move more
quickly than the police."

The