from the Circle Bar ranch he had seen signs
of life at the Circle Cross; once or twice he thought he saw someone
watching him from a hill on the Circle Cross side of the Rabbit-Ear, but
of this he was not quite certain, for the hill-top was thickly wooded
and the distance great.

He had been warned by Norton not to ride too often over the same trail
lest Dunlavey send someone to ambush him.

Hollis had laughed at the warning, though thanking Norton for it. He
told his range boss that he did not anticipate any immediate trouble
with Dunlavey.

"It all depends on how Big Bill feels," returned Norton with a grim
smile. "If you've got him mad there's no telling. And there are plenty
of places between here and Dry Bottom where a man might be shot from
ambush. And nobody'd ever know who done it. I wouldn't ride the Dry
Bottom trail every day. There's the old Coyote trail, that takes you
past the Razor-Back and through Devil's Hollow to Little Canyon an'
along the hills to the other side."

He laughed. "There's only one thing you need to be afraid of if you take
the Coyote trail, an' that's Ed Hazelton. Ed gets spells when he's plum
crazy. He's Nellie Hazelton's brother--her that Dunlavey was pesterin'
when you slammed him." He laughed again, significantly. "Though if Ed
knowed you was the man who took his sister's part you wouldn't need to
be much scared of him--I've heard that he's got a pretty good memory for
his friends--even when he's off."

Hollis had not told Norton of his experience in Devil's Hollow, nor did
he tell him now. But he followed his advice about taking the Coyote
trail, and the following day when he made the trip to Dry Bottom he
returned that way. About half way between Dry Bottom and the Circle Bar
he came upon a little adobe cabin snuggling an arroyo through which
trickled a small stream of water.

It was an ideal location for a small rancher, and Hollis observed that
the buildings were in order--evidently Nellie Hazelton and her brother
were provident. He saw some cattle grazing on the edge of a small grass
plateau which began at the slope of the arroyo through which the stream
of water ran. A shout reached his ears as he sat motionless in the
saddle looking about him, and he saw Ed Hazelton on the plateau among
the cattle, waving a hand to him. The young man began to descend the
side of the plateau, but before he had fairly started Nellie Hazelton
had come out of the front door of the cabin an