ing to him. He scowled a little, stretched a
leg straight out before him to ease it of cramp, and afterwards moved
farther along in the shade. The wind swept past with a faint whistle,
and laid the ripening grasses flat where it passed. A cloud shadow moved
slowly along the slope beneath him, and he watched the darkening of the
earth where it touched, and the sharp contrast of the sun-yellowed sea
of grass all around it. H. J. Owens looked bored and sleepy; yet he did
not leave the hilltop--nor did he go to sleep.

Instead, he lifted the glasses, turned them toward Flying U Coulee a
half mile to the south of him, and stared long at the trail. After a few
minutes he made a gesture to lower the glasses, and then abruptly fixed
them steadily upon one spot, where the trail wound up over the crest
of the bluff. He looked for a minute, and laid the glasses down upon a
rock.

H. J. Owens fumbled in the pocket of his coat, which he had folded and
laid beside him on the yellow gravel of the hill. He found something he
wanted, stood up, and with his back against a boulder he faced to the
southwest. He was careful about the direction. He glanced up at the sun,
squinting his eyes at the glare; he looked at what he held in his hand.

A glitter of sun on glass showed briefly. H. J. Owens laid his palm over
it, waited while he could count ten, and took his palm away. Replaced
it, waited, and revealed the glass again with the sun glare upon it
full. He held it so for a full minute, and slid the glass back into his
pocket.

He glanced down toward Flying U Coulee again--toward where the trail
stretched like a brown ribbon through the grass. He seemed to be in
something of a hurry now--if impatient movement meant anything--yet he
did not leave the place at once. He kept looking off there toward the
southwest--off beyond Antelope Coulee and the sparsely dotted shacks of
the settlers.

A smudge of smoke rose thinly there, behind a hill. Unless one had been
watching the place, one would scarcely have noticed it, but H. J. Owens
saw it at once and smiled his twisted smile and went running down the
hill to where his horse was tied. He mounted and rode down to the level,
skirted the knoll and came out on the trail, down which he rode at an
easy lope until he met the Kid.

The Kid was going to see Rosemary Allen and take a ride with her along
the new fence; but he pulled up with the air of condescension which
was his usual attitude toward