e in from the kitchen with a heaping trayful of dishes. For the
most part, the food was ordinary ranch fare, but cooked with the skill
of a _chef_. The exceptions were the fresh milk and delicious unsalted
butter. On most cattle ranches, the milk comes from "tin cows" and the
butter from oleomargarine tubs.

The two diners were well along in their meal, eating as earnestly and
as taciturnly as the Jap served, when Miss Isobel came in with her
father. The girl had dressed for the afternoon in a gown of the latest
style, whose quiet color and simple lines harmonized perfectly with
her surroundings. She smiled impartially at puncher, tenderfoot, and
Jap.

"Thank you, Yuki. I see you did not keep our hungry hunters
waiting.--Mr. Ashton, I have told Daddy about that shooting."

"It's a mighty strange happening. You might tell us the full
particulars," said Knowles.

Ashton at once gave a fairly accurate account of the affair. He could
hardly exaggerate the peril he had incurred, and the touch of
exultance with which he described his defeat of the murderer was quite
pardonable in a tenderfoot.

"Strange--mighty strange. Can't understand it," commented the cowman
when Ashton had finished his account.

"It shore is, Mr. Knowles," added Gowan. "The only thirty-eight on the
ranch is mine. That seems to clear our people."

"Of course! It could not possibly be any of our people!" exclaimed the
girl.

"Mr. Ashton thinks it might have been his guide," went on Gowan.

"His guide? What caliber was his rifle?" shrewdly queried the cowman.

"Why, I--really I cannot remember," answered Ashton. "I know it was of
a larger bore than mine, but that is all."

"Um-m," considered Knowles. "Looks rather like he's the man. Can't
think of anyone else. Trouble is, if he was laying in wait for you,
his horse would be fresh. Must have covered a right smart bit of
territory by now."

"I'll go out and take a look at his tracks," said Gowan, rising with a
readiness that brought a nod of approval from his employer.

"You'll be careful, Kid," cautioned the girl, with a shade of concern
in her tone.

"He'll keep his eye open, Chuckie," reassured her father. "It's the
other fellow wants to be careful, if he hasn't already vamoosed. Hey,
Kid?"

"I'll get him, if I get the chance," laconically replied Gowan,
looking from the girl to Ashton with the characteristic straightening
of his lips that marked the tensing of his emotions.

As he le