the critter made off before they had a chance at a shot. But, say!" he
exclaimed, "the storm's over an' the sun is out, an' here we are loafin'
in here yet. Vamoose, boys! scatter!" and they all piled out into a fresh
and made-over world. Everything was washed clean by the torrential
rainfall, and, strange to say, comparatively little damage had been done
by the terrific wind. The ranchmen set about repairing whatever had been
destroyed, and the three comrades walked toward the ranchhouse,
discussing Sandy's tale as they went.

CHAPTER XII

Quick on the Draw

Sandy rode up to the house, threw himself from the saddle and went into
that room of the ranch that served as Mr. Melton's library and business
office combined.

His employer looked up from some accounts he was going over and motioned
the foreman to a seat.

"Well, Sandy," he said, as he noted the worried look in the latter's
eyes, "what seems to be the matter? Out with it and get it off your
chest."

"It's about them derned rustlers," said Sandy, with his usual directness
coming straight to the point. "I'm afraid they're gettin' away with a
good many of our beeves."

Mr. Melton's brows met in a puzzled frown.

"What makes you think so?" he asked.

"A heap of things," was the reply. "In the first place, the boys have
found a lot of motherless calves galloping around and bleating for their
mas. Of course, we always look for a few of those, but lately the
number's been beyond all reason. Then, too, there's been quite a bunch of
ornery fellers that the boys has caught sight of hangin' round where they
didn't seem to have no business to be. Of course, that doesn't prove
anything against them, and aside from givin' them a pretty sharp lookin'
over, we couldn't do nothin' just on suspicion."

He took another bite from his plug of tobacco and hitched his chair a
little closer.

"But yesterday," he went on, "Buck was riding herd up in the north
section, and he saw a place leadin' up a gully where the ground was
trampled down in a way that made it look almost as if there had been a
stampede. He could see that a big drove had passed through there and that
it must have been goin' in an almighty hurry. He thought at first they
might have got scared of a grizzly or somethin', but if that had 'a' been
so, some one of them would 'a' been caught and pulled down and there
wasn't any sign of anything like that. Then he looked a little closer at
the trail and