his saddle to examine the
steers closely.

"What is it?" asked Stella excitedly.

"This is terrible," said Ted. "If this keeps up we might as well shoot
all the cattle and let them lie out here on the prairie the prey to the
wolves. We will never get them back to Moon Valley."

Stella looked at him with an expression of consternation on her face.

"These cows and steers have been hamstrung," said Ted, with a tone of
suppressed rage in his voice. "Any man who would do a trick like that
ought to be shot down in his tracks like a mad dog."

"Hamstrung! I don't understand."

"Some inhuman brute has ridden up behind these crippled animals, and
with a sharp knife has cut the tendons or leaders behind the hoofs, or,
rather, in the ankles, laming them and preventing them from being able
to follow a drive. Where would we be in the spring if any large portion
of our beasts were so maimed?"

"What a brutal thing to do!" exclaimed Stella, in indignation.

"Hello, what's that?"

Ted rose in his stirrups, standing and shading his eyes with his hand
against the glare of the setting sun on the snow. With the other hand he
was pointing off toward the east, where the cattle were milling
uneasily.

"Something wrong over there," said Stella.

They rode slowly in that direction to see what was disturbing the
cattle.

As they went, Ted was looking for other hamstrung beasts.

"By Jove! this is getting worse and more of it," he exclaimed. "See
there! That steer has had the tendons of his leg cut to-day. The wound
is fresh. It has hardly stopped bleeding. I wonder----"

But before he had finished the sentence he applied the quirt to his pony
and was dashing through the herd, with Stella close behind.

He had seen something strange and out of the way in the milling herd,
and while he thought he knew what it was he could hardly believe that it
could be true.

As he rode he drew his revolver, and broke it to see that its chambers
were filled.

Ted's face was pale and stern, and Stella saw at a glance that he was
terribly angry, and had the look in it that she had observed there
several times when he had seen animals being used with cruelty.

As he dashed into the milling herd he gave a cry of rage.

At the same moment a man sprang to an upright position in the midst of
the cattle, and gave a cry of surprise.

Over his shoulders hung the fresh hide of a cow, with the skin of the
head and the horns protruding above his hea