my position.

"It seems to me," added Hawkridge, thoughtfully, "that there have been
some woeful mistakes made. The Cattle Association have organized
an expedition to rid Johnson, Natroma and Converse Counties of
cattle-thieves, as they call them. They have imported twenty-five
picked men from Texas, every one of whom is a fighter and dead shot,
with Capt. Smith, an ex-U.S. marshal, as their leader. One of the
party may be taken as a type of the rest. He is Scott Davis, once a
guard on the Deadwood coach, and he carries a gun with twenty notches
on the stock, each representing the death of a road-agent or other
outlaw.

"The expedition left Cheyenne some days ago and is somewhere in this
section. Strong as it is, it is doomed to defeat, for I don't care
how brave and skilful those fellows are, they are no more so than the
rustlers, who far outnumber them.

"However, it isn't that which concerns you and me just now, though it
may do so later. The rustlers have learned that you are out with a
small party, and they are after you."

Capt. Asbury was a brave man, and he did not start on hearing this
announcement, for he had been expecting it from the first; but he
was prudent as well as daring, and he knew his young friend did not
underestimate the danger of himself and companions.

"Have they learned anything about last night's doings?" asked Sterry.

"That's what started me off after you in such a hurry. My callers
stayed more than two hours, and were about leaving when who should
ride up but Duke Vesey, with his story of the killing of his comrade,
Jack Perkins, by you and your men."

"I suppose he called it a murder," remarked Capt. Asbury,
sarcastically.

"Yes, the worst kind, too. I knew he was drawing a long bow, but he
will tell it to others, and it will spread like wildfire. He was
looking for Ira Inman, Larch Cadmus and his party. There are more of
them than you and others are aware of, riding up and down the country,
ripe for any mischief. From what I know, Inman and a dozen of the most
desperate rustlers are in the neighborhood, and as the two fellows who
were at my ranch volunteered to help Vesey find them they will do it
pretty soon, if they have not already done so. Vesey declared it as
his belief that you would be discovered not far from his burned home,
so as soon as they left I mounted my best horse and started to give
you warning."

"I appreciate your kindness, Hawkridge; how did you know the