more Company had bought it. Left to its own
will, at the forks it chose the left hand branch and cantered
contentedly on over rising foothills. Wellesly's thoughts turned from
the ranch to other business ventures in which he was interested. It
was a long time and the horse had covered much ground before he
finally looked about him to take his bearings and consider his
progress. Looking at his watch he thought he ought to be well down in
the plain toward Muletown, and wondered that he was still among the
foothills. He had an uneasy feeling that there was something wrong,
but he said to himself that he had followed the straight road all the
way and that therefore it must be all right. At any rate, it would be
foolish not to go straight ahead until he should meet some one from
whom he could ask directions. So he rode on and on and the sun rose
higher and higher, and nowhere was there sign of human being. But at
last he saw in the distance a splotch of green trees through which
shone whitewashed walls. And presently he was hallooing in front of
Emerson Mead's ranch house.

A thick-set, elderly man, with a round, smooth, pleasant face, out of
which shrewdly looked small dark eyes, came out to see what was
wanted. In his knocking around the world Billy Haney had kept fast
hold of two principles. One was to find out all that he could about
any stranger whom he chanced to meet, and the other, never to tell
that stranger anything about himself that was true. In response to
Wellesly's question, Haney told him that he was far off the road to
Las Plumas, and then by means of two or three shrewd, roundabout
questions and suggestions, he brought out enough information to enable
him to guess who his visitor was. He knew about Wellesly's connection
with the cattle company and his recent presence at the ranch, and the
man's personal appearance had been described to him by Mead and
Ellhorn. So he felt very sure of his ground when he shortly surprised
the traveler by addressing him by name. Then he told Wellesly that his
own name was Mullford, which was the name of a man who owned a cattle
range much farther to the south and who had not been engaged in the
recent trouble over the round-up. He represented himself as the owner
of the place and said that he had been engaged in the cattle business
ten years, but that he was not pleased with it and intended to pull
out within the next year. It was nearly noon and he insisted that
Wellesly sho