t to ask a question, but Peters, disregarding him,
persisted:

"Wa'al, Tobe tuk up the beastis, an' I reckon he reported her ter
hisself, bein' the ranger--the critter makes me laff--an' he hed that
thar old haffen-blind uncle o' his'n an' Perkins Bates, ez be never
sober, ter appraise the vally o' the mare, an' I s'pose he delivered
thar certificate ter hisself, an' I reckon he tuk oath that she kem
'thout his procure_mint_ ter his place, in the presence o' the ranger."

"I reckon thar ain't no law agin the ranger's bein' a ranger an' a
taker-up too," put in one of the bystanders. "'Tain't like a sher'ff
's buyin' at his own sale. An' he hed ter pay haffen her vally into the
treasury o' the county arter twelve months, ef the owner never proved
her away."

"Thar ain't no sign he ever paid a cent," said Peters, with a malicious
grin, pointing at the charred remains of the court-house, "an' the
treasurer air jes dead."

"Wa'al, Tobe hed ter make a report ter the jedge o' the county court
every six months."

"The papers of his office air cinders," retorted Peters.

"Wa'al, then," argued the optimist, "the stray-book will show ez she war
reported an' sech."

"The ranger took mighty partic'lar pains ter hev his stray-book in that
thar court-house when 'twar burnt."

There was a long pause while the party sat ruminating upon the
suspicions thus suggested.

Luke Todd heard them, not without a thrill of satisfaction. He found
them easy to adopt. And he, too, had a disposition to theorize.

"It takes a mighty mean man ter steal a horse," he said. "Stealin' a
horse air powerful close ter murder. Folkses' lives fairly depend on
a horse ter work thar corn an' sech, an' make a support fur em. I hev'
knowed folks ter kem mighty close ter starvin' through hevin thar horse
stole. Why, even that thar leetle filly of our'n, though she hedn't been
fairly bruk ter the plough, war mightily missed. We-uns hed ter make out
with the old sorrel, ez air nigh fourteen year old, ter work the crap,
an' we war powerful disappointed. But we ain't never fund no trace o'
the filly sence she war tolled off one night las' fall a year ago."

The hawk floating above the valley and its winged shadow disappeared
together in the dense glooms of a deep gorge. Luke Todd watched them as
they vanished.

Suddenly he lifted his eyes. They were wide with a new speculation. An
angry flare blazed in them. "What sort'n beastis is this hyar mare ez
the r