the trumpet call of a
stallion and, turning, saw in the corral one of those glorious brutes
which Bud Lee had spoken of to Trevors as "clean spirit." From the
instant her eyes filled to the massive beauty of him, she knew who he
was: Night Shade, sprung from the union of Mountain King and Black
Empress; regal-blooded, ebon-black from silken fetlock to flowing mane;
a splendid four-year-old destined to tread his proud way to a first
prize at the coming State fair at Sacramento, a horse many
stock-fanciers had coveted.

She stopped and marvelled afresh at him, paid him his due of unstinted
admiration, and then spurred on to the little clump of buildings
marking the lower ranch headquarters. At the store, where a ten-by-ten
room was partitioned off to serve as office, she swung down from the
saddle and, leaving her horse with dragging reins, went in.

"Hello, Charlie. You're still left to us, are you?" she said, as she
stepped forward to shake hands with Miller, the storekeeper and general
utility man of the settlement. "I'm glad to see you.

"So'm I, Miss Judy," grinned Charlie, looking the part. "Howdy."

"I wanted to see Johnson and Dennings. Are they here yet?"

"No," answered Miller. "Johnson, the ditch man, you mean? He's
somewhere at the Upper End. Has got a crew of men up there making a
new dam or somethin' or other. Been at it purty near a week, now, I
guess. They camp up there."

"How many men are with him?" she asked quickly.

"About a dozen," and he looked hard at her. Judith frowned. But
instead of saying what she might be thinking, she inquired where
Dennings was.

"Out in the olive-orchards, I guess." He paused, filled a pipe he had
neither desire nor intention of smoking, and said abruptly: "What's
this I hear about Trevors? Canned him?"

"Yes."

"Um!" said Miller. "Well, Miss Judy, I ain't sayin' it wasn't purty
near time he got the hooks. But, lemme tell you something. While
you're riding around this afternoon, if I was you I'd pike over to the
milking corrals."

She looked at him sharply.

"What is it, Charlie?"

"You just ride over," said Miller. "It ain't more'n a step an' I'll
just shet up store an' mosey along after you."

Vaguely uneasy because of Charlie Miller's manner, Judith galloped down
toward the four corrals where the cows were milked. From a distance
she saw that there were a number of men, ten or twelve of them,
standing in a close-packed group. She