no particular
hurry. Yet there was an air of expectancy about him, and it flashed
across Bert that he was waiting for some one. And this impression was
heightened by the glances he cast toward the upper end of the gully, and
the way he lifted his head from time to time as though listening for a
signal.

It came at last, a whistle three times repeated. Instantly he sent back
an answering call, and a moment later two men emerged from the farther
end of the ravine and rode their horses slowly toward their waiting
companion.

They were dressed in ordinary cowboy fashion and rode as though they had
been born to the saddle. In addition to the revolvers in their holsters,
each carried a rifle slung in the hollow of the arm. One was of enormous
bulk and a shock of flaming red hair showed beneath his sombrero. The
other was of medium build, but wiry and quick as a cat in his movements.
Both were of the same evil stamp as the first, although they lacked the
look of authority that marked him as a natural leader.

They gave an exclamation of surprise as they saw the bandaged arm, and
were off their horses in an instant.

"What's the matter, cap?" inquired the smaller man. "Did they get you
bad?"

"Bad enough," snarled the other with a string of blasphemies. "I guess
they've broken a bone in my wrist. But the feller that did it will never
do no more shooting." And in fervid words, interrupted by curses as his
sore arm gave a worse twinge than usual, he related the events leading
up to the affray.

The others listened with perfunctory grunts of sympathy, although they
seemed less concerned about him personally than over the changes the
wounding might make in their plans.

"It's lucky it's the right arm, anyway," consoled one of them. "Yer'll
still be able to shoot as well as ever until yer get all right again."

"Yes," assented the captain grudgingly, "it's the first time I've ever
felt glad that I'm left-handed. And I'm shore glad that I fixed that deal
up with the half-breed before the scrap came off. Handed him over his
share of the last swag, and got it all settled to pull off another trick
a week from to-morrow."

They gathered eagerly about him to learn the details, and Bert strained
his ears to catch the fragments of conversation that floated up to him.
He could detect the name of "Melton" and "Pedro" as often recurring, but
to his intense disappointment could get no coherent idea of the felony
the rustlers had in