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With night at hand and a rain-stor, he did not head for his own camp, so cabin When he reached it darkness had almost set in He approached with caution This cabin, like the few others scattered in the valleys, , however, appeared to be there Then Dale studied the clouds driving across the sky, and he felt the cool dampness of a fine,the night Whereupon he entered the cabin

And the nextout, he saw di forms in the darkness, quite close at hand They had approached against the wind so that sound had been deadened Five horses with riders, Dale h voices Quickly he turned to feel in the dark for a ladder he knew led to a loft; and finding it, he quicklycare not to make a noise with his rifle, and lay down upon the floor of brush and poles Scarcely had he done so when heavy steps, with accoh the door below into the cabin

"Wal, Beasley, are you here?" queried a loud voice

There was no reply The led

"Fellars, Beasley ain't here yet," he called "Put the hosses under the shed We'll wait"

"Wait, huh!" caot nuthin' to eat"

"Shut up, Moze Reckon you're no good for anythin' but eatin' Put them hosses away an' some of you rustle fire-wood in here"

Low, led with dull thuds of hoofs and strain of leather and heaves of tired horses

Another shuffling, clinking footstep entered the cabin

"Snake, it'd been sense to fetch a pack along," drawled this newcomer

"Reckon so, Jim But we didn't, an' what's the use hollerin'? Beasley won't keep us waitin' long"

Dale, lying still and prone, felt a slow start in all his blood--a thrilling wave That deep-voiced erous character of the region; and the others, undoubtedly, co notorious in that sparsely settled country And the Beasley est ranchers and sheep-raisers of the White Mountain ranges What was theof a rendezvous between Snake Anson and Beasley? Milt Dale answered that question to Beasley's discredit; andto sheep and herders, always a e of Pine, now becaht