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Gary glanced at Pete, who stared at him, but made no gesture of greeting. But Pete had read Gary's unspoken thought. "Bailey had sent a couple of kids over to the Blue to help survey the line." And Pete did not intend to let Gary "get by" with the idea that his attitude was not understood. "Where's Houck?" asked Pete, naming the foreman of the T-Bar-T.
And that the boys would be mighty glad to see him again; concluding with an explanation of his own presence there that he had been over to the T-Bar-T to see Houck about some of his stock that had strayed through some "down-fence" "She's all fenced now," he explained and had run into a bunch of wild turkeys, chased them to a rim-rock and had managed to shoot one, but had had to climb down a cañon to recover the bird, which had set him back considerably on his home journey.
Dawn was just breaking when the chief deputy, disgusted with what he termed their "luck," finally evolved a plan out of the many discussed by his companions. "We got the cayuse which will look good to the T-Bar-T boys. We ain't down here for our health and we been up against it from start to finish and so far as I care, this is the finish. Get it right afore we start. Young Pete is dead.
Pete was deeply impressed by his reception. He felt that he had made a hit with Montoya and that the other had taken him seriously. Most men did not, despite the fact that he was accredited with having slain two T-Bar-T cowboys. A strange sympathy grew between this old Mexican and the lean, bright-eyed young boy. Perhaps Pete's swarthy coloring and black eyes had something to do with it.
"The vaqueros from over there" and he pointed toward the north "they came and now there is but this left" and he indicated the saloon. "The others they have gone." "Cleaned out the town, eh? Reckon that was the T-Bar-T and the boys from the Blue and the Concho. How'd they come to miss you?"
The Concho had always claimed the right to run their cattle on the Blue Mesa with the Blue Range as a tentative line of demarcation. The T-Bar-T always claimed the Blue as part of their range. There had been some bickering until the killing of Annersley, when Bailey promptly issued word to his men to keep the Concho cattle north of the homestead.
If the T-Bar-T outfit were going to run his pop out of the country, Young Pete intended to be in at the running. The feel of the carbine beneath his leg gave him courage. Up to the time Annersley had adopted him, Pete had had to fight and scheme and dodge his way through life. He had asked no favors and expected none.
"We'll be right busy," he said in a sort of tentative way. Pete nodded and hitched up his chaps. One of the approaching horsemen waved a hand. Andy acknowledged the salute. The T-Bar-T men rode in and dismounted. "Where's Bailey?" was Gary's first word. "Jim sent us to fix up that line with you," replied Andy. "He's over to Enright."
Thus it happened that Annersley brought upon himself the very trouble that he had honorably tried to avoid. Let the most courageous man even seem to turn and run and how soon his enemies will take up the chase! But nothing happened that summer, and it was not until the following spring that the T-Bar-T outfit gave any hint of their real intent.
If they overtook him before they reached the ranch, the most they could do would be to curse him for misleading them. He reasoned that the posse was from the T-Bar-T that at best the sheriff could not have been advised of the shooting in time to join them. They would have no official right to detain him or interfere with his progress once they knew who he was.
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