Part 10 (1/2)

I hopped off my hoss and scrambled down somehow.

”Hurt?” says I, as soon as I lit.

”Not a bit--look here.”

There was a dead cow with the Lazy Y on her flank.

”And a bullet-hole in her forehead,” adds Larry. ”And, look here, that T 0 calf was bald-faced, and so was this cow.”

”Reckon we found our sleepers,” says I.

So, there we was. Larry had to lead his cavallo down the barranca to the main canon. I followed along on the rim, waitin' until a place gave me a chance to get down, too, or Larry a chance to get up. We were talkin' back and forth when, all at once, Larry shouted again.

”Big game this time,” he yells. ”Here's a cave and a mountain lion squallin' in it.”

I slid down to him at once, and we drew our six-shooters and went up to the cave openin', right under the rim-rock. There, sure enough, were fresh lion tracks, and we could hear a little faint cryin' like woman.

”First chance,” claims Larry, and dropped to his hands and knees at the entrance.

”Well, d.a.m.n me!” he cries, and crawls in at once, payin' no attention to me tellin' him to be more cautious. In a minute he backs out, carryin' a three-year-old goat.

”We seem to be in for adventures to-day,” says he. ”Now, where do you suppose that came from, and how did it get here?”

”Well,” says I, ”I've followed lion tracks where they've carried yearlin's across their backs like a fox does a goose. They're tur'ble strong.”

”But where did she come from?” he wonders.

”As for that,” says I, ”don't you remember now that T 0 outfit had a yearlin' kid when it came into the country?”

”That's right,” says he. ”It's only a mile down the canon. I'll take it home. They must be most distracted about it.”

So I scratched up to the top where my pony was waitin'. It was a tur'ble hard climb, and I 'most had to have hooks on my eyebrows to get up at all. It's easier to slide down than to climb back. I dropped my gun out of my holster, and she went way to the bottom, but I wouldn't have gone back for six guns. Larry picked it up for me.

So we went along, me on the rim-rock and around the barrancas, and Larry in the bottom carryin' of the kid.

By and by we came to the ranch house, stopped to wait. The minute Larry hove in sight everybody was out to once, and in two winks the woman had that baby. They didn't see me at all, but I could hear, plain enough, what they said. Larry told how he had found her in the cave, and all about the lion tracks, and the woman cried and held the kid close to her, and thanked him about forty times. Then when she'd wore the edge off a little, she took the kid inside to feed it or somethin'.

”Well,” says Larry, still laughin', ”I must hit the trail.”

”You say you found her up the Double R?” asks Hahn. ”Was it that cave near the three cottonwoods?”

”Yes,” says Larry.

”Where'd you get into the canyon?”

”Oh, my hoss slipped off into the barranca just above.”

”The barranca just above,” repeats Hahn, lookin' straight at him.