Part 9 (2/2)

”Well, what do you think of this one?” Buck Johnson asks me.

”The feet is pretty well tore up,” says I, ”and down to the quick, but I've seen them tore up just as bad on the rocks when they come down out of the mountains.”

You sabe what that meant, don't you? You see, a rustler will take a cow and hobble her, or lame her so she can't follow, and then he'll take her calf a long ways off and brand it with his iron. Of course, if we was to see a calf of one brand followin' of a cow with another, it would be just too easy to guess what had happened.

We rode on mighty thoughtful. There couldn't be much doubt that cattle rustlers was at work. The sleepers they had ear-marked, hopin' that no one would discover the lack of a brand. Then, after the calf was weaned, and quit followin' of his mother, the rustler would brand it with his own iron, and change its ear-mark to match. It made a nice, easy way of gettin' together a bunch of cattle cheap.

But it was pretty hard to guess off-hand who the rustlers might be.

There were a lot of renegades down towards the Mexican line who made a raid once in a while, and a few oilers [2] livin' near had water holes in the foothills, and any amount of little cattle holders, like this T 0 outfit, and any of them wouldn't shy very hard at a little sleeperin'

on the side. Buck Johnson told us all to watch out, and pa.s.sed the word quiet among the big owners to try and see whose cattle seemed to have too many calves for the number of cows.

The Texas outfit I'm tellin' you about had settled up above in this Double R canon where I showed you those natural corrals this morning.

They'd built them a 'dobe, and cleared some land, and planted a few trees, and made an irrigated patch for alfalfa. n.o.body never rode over this way very much, 'cause the country was most too rough for cattle, and our ranges lay farther to the southward. Now, however, we began to extend our ridin' a little.

I was down towards Dos Cabesas to look over the cattle there, and they used to send Larry up into the Double R country. One evenin' he took me to one side.

”Look here, Jed,” says he, ”I know you pretty well, and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm all new at this cattle business--in fact, I haven't been at it more'n a year. What should be the proportion of cows to calves anyhow?”

”There ought to be about twice as many cows as there're calves,” I tells him.

”Then, with only about fifty head of grown cows, there ought not to be an equal number of yearlin's?”

”I should say not,” says I. ”What are you drivin' at?”

”Nothin' yet,” says he.

A few days later he tackled me again.

”Jed,” says he, ”I'm not good, like you fellows are, at knowin' one cow from another, but there's a calf down there branded T 0 that I'd pretty near swear I saw with an X Y cow last month. I wish you could come down with me.”

We got that fixed easy enough, and for the next month rammed around through this broken country lookin' for evidence. I saw enough to satisfy me to a moral certainty, but nothin' for a sheriff; and, of course, we couldn't go shoot up a peaceful rancher on mere suspicion.

Finally, one day, we run on a four-months' calf all by himself, with the T 0 iron onto him--a mighty healthy lookin' calf, too.

”Wonder where HIS mother is!” says I.

”Maybe it's a 'dogie,'” says Larry Eagen--we calls calves whose mothers have died ”dogies.”

”No,” says I, ”I don't hardly think so. A dogie is always under size and poor, and he's layin' around water holes, and he always has a big, sway belly onto him. No, this is no dogie; and, if it's an honest calf, there sure ought to be a T 0 cow around somewhere.”

So we separated to have a good look. Larry rode up on the edge of a little rimrock. In a minute I saw his hoss jump back, dodgin' a rattlesnake or somethin', and then fall back out of sight. I jumped my hoss up there tur'ble quick, and looked over, expectin' to see nothin'

but mangled remains. It was only about fifteen foot down, but I couldn't see bottom 'count of some brush.

”Are you all right?” I yells.

”Yes, yes!” cries Larry, ”but for the love of G.o.d, get down here as quick as you can.”

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