Tresler strained his eyes to obtain a knowledge of their appearance,
but the darkness thwarted him. He could see the vague outline of the
man nearest him, but it was so uncertain that he could make little of
it. One thing only he ascertained, and that was because the figure was
silhouetted against the starlit sky. The man seemed to have his face
covered with something that completely concealed his profile.

The whole scene passed almost before he realized it. The horsemen had
appeared so suddenly, and were gone so swiftly, returning through the
forest the way they had come, that he was not sure but that the whole
apparition had been a mere trick of imagination. Rising swiftly, he
gazed after the vanished riders, and the crunching of the pine cones
under the horses' hoofs, dying slowly away as they retreated, warned
him that the stealthy, nocturnal visit was no illusion, but a curious
fact that needed explanation.

Just for an instant it occurred to him that it might be two of the
hands out on night work around the cattle, then he remembered that the
full complement were even now slumbering in the bunkhouse. Puzzled and
somewhat disquieted, he turned his steps in the direction of his
quarters, fully intending to go to bed; but his adventures were not
over yet.

As he drew near his destination he observed the figure of a man,
bearing something on his back, coming slowly toward him. A moment
later he was looking down upon the diminutive person of Joe Nelson in
the act of carrying a saddle upon his shoulder.

"Hello, Nelson, where are you going at this hour of the night?" he
asked, as he came face to face with the little man.

The choreman deposited the saddle on the ground, and looked his man up
and down before he answered.

"Wher' am I goin'?" he said, as though he were thinking of other
things. "I guess I'm doin' a job in case I git fergittin' by the
mornin'. Jake reckons to want my saddle in the mornin' over at the
hoss corrals. But, say, why ain't you abed, Mr. Tresler?"

"Never mind the 'mister,' Joe," Tresler said amiably.

[Illustration: A moment later he beheld two horsemen]

"If you're going to the horse corrals now I'll go with you. I'm so
beastly wide awake that I can't turn in yet."

"Come right along, then. Guess I ain't feelin' that ways, sure."

Joe jerked his saddle up and slung it across his back again, and the
two men walked off in silence.

And as they walked, Joe, under cover of the dar