... But he doesn't cotton to me worth a
damn. He's gettin' fond of Miss Columbine, an' I believe might make a
good watch-dog for her. Where'd he come from, Belllounds?"

"Wal, if I don't disremember he was born in a prairie-schooner, comin'
across the plains. His mother was a full-blood, an' come from
Louisiana."

"That accounts for an instinct I see croppin' out in Kane," rejoined
Wade. "He likes to trail a man. I've caught him doin' it. An' he doesn't
take to huntin' lions or bear. Why, the other day, when the hounds treed
a lion an' went howlin' wild, Kane came up, an' he looked disgusted an'
went off by himself. He hunts by himself, anyhow. First off I thought he
might be a sheep-killer. But I reckon not. He can trail men, an' that's
about all the good he is. His mother must have been a slave-hunter, an'
Kane inherits that trailin' instinct."

"Ahuh! Wal, train him on trailin' men, then. I've seen times when a dog
like thet'd come handy. An' if he takes to Collie an' you approve of
him, let her have him. She's been coaxin' me fer a dog."

"That isn't a bad idea. Miss Collie walks an' rides alone a good deal,
an' she never packs a gun."

"Funny about thet," said Belllounds. "Collie is game in most ways, but
she'd never kill anythin'.... Wade, you ain't thinkin' she ought to stop
them lonesome walks an' rides?"

"No, sure not, so long as she doesn't go too far away."

"Ahuh! Wal, supposin' she rode up out of the valley, west on the Black
Range?"

"That won't do, Belllounds," replied Wade, seriously. "But Miss Collie's
not goin' to, for I've cautioned her. Fact is I've run across some
hard-lookin' men between here an' Buffalo Park. They're not hunters or
prospectors or cattlemen or travelers."

"Wal, you don't say!" rejoined Belllounds. "Now, Wade, are you
connectin' up them strangers with the stock I missed on this last
round-up?"

"Reckon I can't go as far as that," returned Wade. "But I didn't like
their looks."

"Thet comin' from you, Wade, is like the findin's of a jury.... It's
gettin' along toward October. Snow'll be flyin' soon. You don't reckon
them strangers will winter in the woods?"

"No, I don't. Neither does Lewis. You recollect him?"

"Yes, thet prospector who hangs out around Buffalo Park, lookin' fer
gold. He's been hyar. Good fellar, but crazy on gold."

"I've met Lewis several times, one place and another. I lost the hounds
day before yesterday. They treed a lion an' Lewis heard the