adly earnest. Then, with Neal leading, they began to
run toward the bend in the trail.

Shortly Calumet turned. The Taggarts had almost reached the bend, and
while he watched they vanished behind it.

Calumet picked up the rifle which he had taken from the elder Taggart,
mounted his horse, and drove the Taggart animals into the corral. He
decided that he would keep them there for an hour or so, to give the
Taggarts time to get well on their way toward the Arrow. Had he turned
them loose immediately they no doubt would have overtaken their masters
before the latter had gone very far.

Remounting, Calumet rode to the bend in the trail. He carried
Taggart's rifle. About a mile out on the plain that stretched away
toward the Arrow he saw the two men. They seemed to be walking rapidly.

Calumet returned to the ranchhouse, got a pick and shovel, and went
back to the timber clump. An hour later he was again at the corral.
He led the Taggart horses out, took them to the bend in the trail, and
turned them loose, for he anticipated that the Taggarts would make a
complaint to the sheriff about them, and if they were found in the Lazy
Y corral trouble would be sure to result.

He watched them until they were well on their way toward the Arrow, and
then he returned to the ranchhouse and went to bed. No one had heard
him, he told himself with a grin as he stretched out on the bed beside
Dade to sleep the hour that would elapse before daylight.

CHAPTER XX

BETTY TALKS FRANKLY

Betty, however, had not been asleep. After seeking her room she had
heard the rapid beat of hoofs, and, looking out of her window, she had
seen Calumet when he had raced from the ranchhouse in search of
Taggart. Still watching at the window, she had seen him returning; saw
him disappear into the timber clump.

Some time later she had observed the Taggarts emerge and run as though
their lives depended on haste. She watched Calumet as he rode by her
window to take the two horses to the corral, stared at him with
fascinated eyes, holding her breath with horror as he walked from the
ranchhouse to the timber clump with the pick and shovel on his
shoulder; stood at the window with a great fear gripping her until he
came back, still carrying the pick and shovel; watched him as he
released the Taggart horses, drove them to the bend in the trail, and
returned to the house. His movements had been stealthy, but she heard
him when he came into