divvy, eh? Well, he won't need it where he's
goin'."

Both laughed. Then one said, coldly: "Well, I reckon we won't take
chances on losin' him again--like we did last night. We'll get him right
now!"

They urged their horses away from the edge of the gully. Sanderson could
hear the clatter of hoofs, receding. He had heard, plainly, all the
conversation between the two.

There was a grin of slight relief on Sanderson's face. The men were not
aiming at him, but at the first rider. It was clear that all were
concerned in a personal quarrel which was no concern of Sanderson's. It
was also apparent to Sanderson that the two men who had halted at the
edge of the arroyo were not of the type that contributed to the peace and
order of the country.

Plainly, they were of the lower strata of riffraff which had drifted into
the West to exact its toll from a people who could not claim the
protection of a law that was remote and impotent.

Sanderson suspected that the first rider had been concerned in some
lawless transaction with the other two, and that the first rider had
decamped with the entire spoils. That much was indicated by the words of
the two. Dire punishment for the first man was imminent.

Sanderson had no sympathy for the first rider. He felt, though, a slight
curiosity over the probable outcome of the affair, and so, working
rapidly, he broke camp, threw saddle and bridle on the white horse,
strapped his slicker to the cantle of the saddle, and rode the brown
horse up the slope of the arroyo, taking the direction in which the three
men had disappeared.

CHAPTER II

A MAN'S CURIOSITY

By the time Sanderson urged the brown horse up the crest of the slope,
the men he had determined to follow were far out in the desert.
Sanderson could see them, though the distance was considerable, riding
the crest of a ridge, directly northeastward. As that was following
the general direction in which Sanderson wanted to travel he was highly
pleased.

"They're company," he told himself as he rode; "an' I've been a heap
lonesome."

The men were not traveling fast. At times, when the first rider was
compelled to traverse high ground, Sanderson could see him--horse and
rider faintly outlined against the sky. Sanderson would note the
figure of the first rider, then watch the point at which the first
rider appeared until the others reached that point. Then, noting the
elapsed time, he could estimate the di