xtra range now," Billie said. "Why pay grazing
fees before we need the room."

"Just to get our wedge in first," Harris explained. "We can get
grazing permits on the Forest now--right in the best grass valleys.
Each year we'll throw some cows up there to hold our rights. There'll
always be good grass on the Forest Reserves for they won't permit
overstocking. The day will come when we'll be glad to have permits to
summer-feed a thousand or so head on the Forest. I was thinking maybe
you and Deane would like to make the jaunt."

"We'll go," the girl decided.

"It's a question of time," Deane said. "How long will we be gone?"

"We'll start in an hour or two," Harris said. "Just as soon as Wilton
turns up. We'll only be gone five days at the most."

"Then I'll stretch my stay to cover it," Deane accepted. "I'd
certainly hate to pass up a chance for a trip in the hills."

"We'll ride back and make up an extra bed roll," Harris said. "Then
we'll be all set to start when Wilton shows up."

Calico had sidled off the plowing and was cropping the grass at the
edge of it. As Harris moved toward him Evans rode down the right-hand
slope and the three waited for him.

"Moore and I were working in close and I thought I'd ride over to tell
you that the wild bunch has lost a veteran," he said. "Some one put
Barton out over in the Breaks."

Barton, whose name was linked with that of Harper, had been found with
a rifle ball through his chest. His own gun, found by his
out-stretched hand, had showed one blackened cylinder, the empty shell
sufficient proof that he had fired a single shot at his assailant.

"Anyway, he had a chance to see who got him," Lanky philosophized. "He
was likely ordered to turn round--given a fighting chance maybe."

The girl could find no sorrow in her heart over the passing of Barton
but there was an uneasy feeling deep within her,--a vague suspicion
that she should be able to pronounce the killer's name. This elusive
thought was crowded from her mind when the ranger rode up to the Three
Bar accompanied by Slade, each man leading a pack horse.

"Slade's going to look over a little territory up on the Forest,"
Wilton explained. "So we can get it all done on one trip."

There was no way to avoid this unexpected addition to their party.
Harris and the ranger packed the three bed rolls and Billie's teepee
along with the necessary equipment and in half an hour the little
cavalcade filed u