hey hunt
across the range."

"These horses is shod," the sheriff remarked. "I sh'd say there's been
half a dozen of 'em. Not less. Maybe more. I've knowed men that could
tell exact."

"Not many of them left now."

"That's so. There ain't much need for trailin' these days. Too many
telegraph wires."

They held to the pass, as did the hoofprints, eventually dropping down
into the valley of the Klimminchuck, where they camped for the night
beside the ford, cooked supper, unrolled their blankets, and lay by the
fire, smoking.

"This bunch of hosses," the sheriff observed, "seems to have split up
here. Two or three of 'em crossed over, but the most went down the
valley. What's down there?"

"Just valley. It's partly open and part heavy timber. There was a pack
trail cut through once, but it's mostly grown up."

"Nobody lives down there?"

"Not a soul. Now and then somebody traps in winter."

"Um." The sheriff was thoughtful for some moments. "Does McHale know
the country hereabouts?"

"Fairly well. Better than I do. And McCrae knows it better than he
does."

"Um." The sheriff became silent again. "When a man goes to hidin' out,"
he observed after a long pause, "he 'most always hits for the country
he knows. Seems like it's human nature. I'd do it myself, and so'd you.
Seems like a man that's wanted is suspicious of strange ground. He
don't know what's in it, and he's afraid of gettin' cornered. He don't
know what he's goin' to run up against any mile. It's a mean feelin',
that. It keeps a man on edge every minute. So he naturally makes for
the district he's at home in. It's a mistake, but they all make it.
They figure they can dodge around where they know the trails and
cut-offs. Consequently it's just a matter of time till they're caught.
It's like an old buck that won't leave his range. Any man can git him
that wants to spend a week at it."

"That's so," Casey agreed.

"So when I want a man and don't know where he's gone, I find out what
place he thinks he knows best," the sheriff continued. "The system wins
nine times out of ten. Now you say McHale's only out temporary. He's
got a clear self-defence case, or thinks he has, and he's merely
side-steppin' trouble. In that case he won't go as far as another man
might. My _tumtum_ is that he's somewheres down along this valley."

"Good reasoning," Casey admitted.

"The way to see a man down in a hole is to look over the edge," said
the sheriff; "and the w