OLDRING'S KNELL
hosses—talkin' thet way about Tull an' Jerry Card."
"Jud, I'm not crazy—only mad clean through," replied Venters.
"Wal, now, Bern, I'm glad to hear some of your old self in your voice. Fer when you come up you looked like the corpse of a dead rider with fire fer eyes. You hed thet crowd too stiff fer throwin' guns. Come, we've got to hev a talk. Let's go up the lane. We ain't much safe here."
Judkins mounted Bells and rode with Venters up to the Cottonwood grove. Here they dismounted and went among the trees.
"Let's hear from you first," said Judkins. "You fetched back them hosses. Thet is the trick. An', of course, you got Jerry the same as you got Horne."
"Horne!"
"Sure. He was found dead yesterday all chewed by coyotes, an' he'd been shot plumb center."
"Where was he found?"
"At the split down the trail—you know where Oldrin's cattle trail runs off north from the trail to the pass."
"That's where I met Jerry and the rustlers. What was Horne doing with them? I thought Horne was an honest cattle-man."
"Lord—Bern, don't ask me thet! I'm all muddled now tryin' to figure things."
Venters told of the fight and the race with Jerry Card and its tragic conclusion.
"I knowed it! I knowed all along that Wrangle was the best hoss!" exclaimed Judkins, with his lean face working and his eyes lighting. "Thet was a race! Lord, I'd like to hev seen Wrangle jump the cliff with Jerry. An' thet was good-by to the grandest hoss an' rider ever on the sage! . . . But, Bern, after you got the hosses why'd you want to bolt right in Tull's face?"
"I want him to know. An' if I can get to him I'll—"
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