fer I saw it wasn't any o' our outfit. Ye see I
had in mind what Ted said about that Sweet Grass Mountain gang, an' I
wuz some skittish.

"As I rode along slowly the feller on the black hoss made a sign as if
he wanted me to foller him. But I didn't like the stunt, so I stops
still an' rubbers at him.

"Two or three times he makes his motions, an' I don't do nothin' but
shake my head.

"Kit, that wasn't no human bein'. It wuz ther devil as sure as shootin'.
I started to draw my gun, but shucks, I ain't got no chanct ter make a
move before thar was a crash, an' a blaze o' flame come from his chest,
right about the middle, an' I felt the ball strike me, I heard a queer
sorter laugh, like a man bubblin' with his mouth in a basin o' water,
an' then I went out, an' all I remember wuz fallin' out o' the saddle."

About noon of that day, Ted and Stella rode over from the ranch house on
a tour of inspection, and stopped at Bud's camp, where they were told
the story of Carl's strange encounter with the man without a face, to
which he listened in troubled silence.

When Carl was through with his story, Ted looked for a long time into
the fire without saying anything.

"Well, what do you think?" asked Stella, at last.

"I think it is the work of the Whipple gang," answered Ted.

"But why should they shoot Follansbee?"

"It is a piece of intimidation. Of course, they do not know us. Under
ordinary circumstances an apparition like that, followed by the shooting
of a man, would cause a panic among ignorant men on a ranch. It is a
cinch that the Whipple gang has got it in for us, and this is just the
beginning of it. You will soon see other evidences of their work."

"But why should they hev it in fer us?" asked Bud. "We ain't never done
nothin' ter them."

"I don't know, but I have several ideas."

"What are they?"

"There are two or three things to be considered. In the first place they
have it in for the ranch on general principles. You know Fred Sturgis
said in his letter that he and his boys had driven the gang away from
the ranch. That is reason number one. Then we are strangers in this part
of the country, and they have seen us and have us sized up for a lot of
boys, and, therefore, easy marks for them. Again, we have a big bunch of
cattle, which Whipple and his bunch think we will not be able to protect
against them.

"They may have learned that we are deputy United States marshals. That
is enough to condemn