CHAPTER XXXII.
A HOLE IN THE HERD.
The herd of cattle which Ted and the broncho boys were herding in NoMan's Land he had branded Circle S, named after Stella.
There were more than two thousand head of them, which Ted was feeding onthe rich range grasses of the Southwest to drive to the Moon ValleyRanch to winter, for it was well known to cowmen that a Southern orSouthwestern beef animal will do better for a winter on the Northernrange.
After Stella's disappearance Ted and the boys searched every nook andcranny of the town of Snyder, but were unable to get the slightest traceof her. Dividing into bands, they scoured the country roundabout, beingassisted by the cow-punchers and the ranchers in the neighborhood.
But Stella had disappeared as if the earth had opened and swallowed her.With all his ingenuity, backed by the strong desire he had to find her,Ted was making no headway, and he hardly slept or ate during the longdays and nights, but was in the saddle almost continuously.
Naturally, he suspected Shan Rhue of knowing something about Stella'sabsence, if, indeed, he was not actually responsible for it.
But he could not fasten anything on the man whom he had come to regardas his greatest enemy, and whom he knew hated him. Whenever he soughtShan Rhue, he was always to be found at his haunts.
Tired of the inaction, Ted met Shan Rhue on the street one day, andresolved to have it out with him.
"Shan Rhue, I want to speak with you," said Ted, stopping him.
"Well, what is it you want?" asked Shan Rhue.
"I want you to tell me where Stella is," said Ted.
Shan Rhue stared at him in apparent amazement.
"How should I know where she is?" asked Shan Rhue, with a wickedtwinkling in his eye.
"I don't know," answered Ted; "but I think you do know."
"So I supposed, from the way in which you have had me followed. Isuppose you miss her a good deal."
"Her aunt, Mrs. Graham, is distraught with grief and anxiety. Surely youhave no fight on her, or on Miss Fosdick, either, that you should keepthem apart."
"No. I have no fight with a woman. But why should I know where the younglady is?"
"There are several reasons why you should have had her taken away. But Ithink the principal reason is that you think you can get square with meby doing so."
"There might be something in that. Mind me, I am not confessing that Itook her away, or that I know who did take her away, or where she is.You have seen me in town every day since the little trouble we had overthat old thief Norris, haven't you?"
"Yes, but that tells me nothing. It might not be necessary for you toleave this town to have her hidden somewhere."
"But you and your friends searched the town from one end to the other,and you did not find her."
"True, but for all that I am satisfied that you know where she is.Suppose we call it off, and that you tell me where she is."
"If I knew, I would not tell you," said Shan Rhue, his voice intensewith hatred.
"What do you mean? Are you such a coward that you will punish a womanfor your spite against a man? I did not think that of you. I believeStella Fosdick was carried off by you, of your men, acting under yourinstructions."
Shan Rhue's only reply was a sneering laugh.
"If I discover that what I say is true," said Ted, in a low voice sofull of purpose that it was in itself a warning, "you will be thesorriest man in all this country. I will make you suffer by it even asyou have caused suffering to others."
"So you have suffered, eh? That is good! Now I am a little bettersatisfied. But my debt to you is not yet paid. There are other things instore for you."
"What do you mean, you dog? By Heaven, I know now that you did cause herabduction, and I shall find her. You cannot keep me away from the placein which you have hidden her. I shall find her if she is at the end ofthe earth. When I do find her, if anything has harmed her, you, ShanRhue, gambler, thief, and murderer, shall pay for it, and pay heavierthan for any amusement you have had in all your miserable lying,thieving career."
As the epithets addressed to Shan Rhue left Ted's lips, the bully sprangback, and made a motion to draw his six-shooter.
But before he had his hand on his hip his eyes were looking into thebore of Ted's forty-four. Instead of drawing a gun, therefore, he pulledout his handkerchief and wiped his dry lips.
Shan Rhue feared Ted Strong.
"Remember," said Ted, before turning away, "I know that you havespirited Stella Fosdick away. But I shall find her, and when I am sureof it you better leave the country before I reach the place where youare, for as sure as I am standing here I will make my previousexperience with you so tame that you will be glad to crawl in the duston your face to be forgiven."
"Ha, ha!" laughed Shan Rhue. "So it hurts as bad as that, eh? Good!"
He went away laughing, and it was all Ted could do to control himself,and keep from leaping upon him and punching him. Instead, he jumped intohis saddle and rode Sultan like the wind out to the cow camp.
For several days he had paid no attention to the herd, leaving it underthe general direction of Bud, while he stayed in town trying to hearsome news of Stella, or was riding all over the country with one oranother of the boys, searching for her.
As he rode into camp with disappointment and dejection written on hisface, he was met by Mrs. Graham, who had grown pale and wan withanxiety.
"Any news of her?" she asked Ted.
"None, but I haven't given up hope by any means. Don't worry so, Mrs.Graham. I think I am on the track at last, and that we shall soon haveher with us again."
But Mrs. Graham only walked away with the tears coursing down hercheeks. The herd was grazing to the west of the camp, and Ted rode outto it, and to where Bud was sitting quietly in his saddle watching it.
There was an air of dejection about Bud, also. Indeed, every fellow inthe outfit was secretly worrying and grieving for Stella.
"Say, Ted," said Bud, as Ted rode up, "I think thar's somethin' wrongwith ther dogies."
Cow-punchers call the small Southwestern cattle "dogies."
"What do you mean?" asked Ted. "I was looking them over this morning.Rode through the bunch. They seemed to be all right then."
"Oh, they're eatin' well, an' aire as likely a lot o' beef ez ever Isee," replied Bud.
"Well, what then?"
"Thar ain't so many o' them ez there wuz, er my eye hez gone back onme."
"Any of them get away?"
"I figger it so."
"What have you found out?"
"Some one is liftin' our cattle. That's what I mean."
"Great Scott! What makes you think so?"
"Ted, ther herd has shrunk."
"You judge by the eye, I suppose."
"Yes. That is the only way I have o' judgin'. We hev never had a counto' them since we drove them onto this range."
"How many do you think we are shy?"
"My eye tells me erbout five hundred."
"Great guns! How could five hundred head get away from us? And rightunder our noses, too."
"Easy enough. You must remember that since Stella has been gone we'vepaid no more attention to the herd than if we didn't own them."
"That's true. As for myself, I confess that I've given them noattention. And I've kept you fellows so busy that we've left the cattleto take care of themselves, almost."
"Well, it's time we woke up ter ther situation, er soon we won't hev nomore cattle than a rabbit."
"That's so. We'll run a count of them in the morning."
"It's shore got me puzzled. I can't think whar they could hev gone."
"Strayed, possibly."
"P'r'aps. Ever hear o' there bein' any rustlers in this part o' thercountry?"
"No, I never have. But there are some pretty bad citizens in thissection, who, if they never have rustled cattle, certainly are capableof it."
"Alludin' to who?"
"Well, there's Shan Rhue and his gang, for instance."
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"They're pretty bad actors, fer shore. But I ain't positive thet they'rether kind what would rustle. They're jest plain town thieves an'gamblers. They ain't cow-punchers. It gen'rally is fellers what has beenin ther cow business at some time er another what rustles stock."
"Oh, it doesn't take much of a man to steal cattle. A thieving gamblercould do it as well as another."
"But our brand and ear crop? They shore couldn't get away from them."
"They're not so hard, Bud. A good man could run our stock out of thispart of the country and alter the brand without any trouble."
"Shore, ther brand is not so hard to alter."
"Let's ride back to camp and look at the brand book, and see if any onehas a similar brand to ours, or one that they could alter withouttrouble. But, remember, I'm not going to give myself any uneasiness inthe matter, and I think we will find the herd all there. I can't see howso many cattle as you think could get away from us."
"I do."
"In what manner could they?"
"Well, yer see, thar ain't ary o' us fellers been ridin' herd at nightsince Stella was taken away."
"Yes; go on."
"Ther fellers what hev been guardin' ther herd at night we picked uparound here when we drove ther herd up from ther South."
"True. They were all local cow-punchers. I realize that we have made amistake. One of us ought to have had charge of every night watch sincewe have been on this range."
"Shore. It's a cinch they wouldn't attempt to run 'em off in therdaytime."
"That's the idea. It would be as easy as shooting fish in a rain barrelfor a crooked night foreman to drift a few cattle away from the herd inthe dark, to be picked up by fellows waiting on the outside, and driveninto the hills until the brands and marks could be changed."
They were at the camp now, and Ted got out the brand book and turned itsleaves over in an attempt to find a brand similar to their own, theCircle S, which was a circle with the letter S in the center.
In every Western State or Territory in which cattle-raising is abusiness the law makes it imperative that every ranchman who uses theopen range shall select a brand for his cattle which is registered. Thisbrand is his own, and every head of cattle found with his brand on itbelongs to him.
On the open range the cattle get mixed more or less, and in the springthere is a general round-up of the cattle, after the calves have beenborn and are following their mothers.
The cow-punchers go into the vast herds and drive out the calves. Ofcourse, the mother follows the calf, lowing piteously for it.
When the cow is out with the calf, it can be plainly seen to whom shebelongs by the brand on her. Her owner, or his men or representatives,promptly throw her and the calf into their own herd, and later put theirbrand on the calf.
Calves which are motherless and are unbranded are known as mavericks,and belong to whoever finds them. The cowman who finds a maverickpromptly puts his own brand on it and it belongs to him.
The safety of the system is in choosing a brand that cannot be easilyaltered, and which will not be easily confounded with the brand ofanother.
When the boys had chosen the brand Circle S for this herd in honor ofStella, they had spoken of this, and Bud had remarked that it would beeasily altered by making an eight of the S, but they had found no Circle8 in the brand book, and took the chance, especially as Stella nowinsisted upon having no other brand for the herd than Circle S, her "ownbrand," as she called it.
Ted and Bud could find no brand in the Texas or Oklahoma brand books atall like theirs, and dismissed the matter from their minds.
The next morning early all hands turned out for a count of the herd. Theherd was split, and the broncho boys took turns at the count, as thebunches of cattle were split and driven slowly past them on the point.
From the books, there should be two thousand three hundred cattle, orthereabouts, in the herd. A few cattle more or less would not have beensurprising, for a great herd of cattle will, like a magnet, draw to itall the individual strays in the country roundabout.
It was well in the afternoon before the count was finished, and the boysrode into camp to count up and compare with the books. Ted totaled thefigures, while the boys hung eagerly over him to learn the result.
"Well, what d'yer make it?" asked Bud, as Ted, with an expression ofperplexity on his face, looked up from his work.
"The count is seventeen hundred and fifty," answered Ted slowly.
"Gee! And that's how many shy?"
"Five hundred and fifty. Bud, you have a good eye."
"Orter hev. I've been runnin' my eye over herds fer many a year. So,we've been done out o' more'n five hundred head, eh? Well, Stella comesfust, an' then ther man what thinks he kin rustle cattle from thebroncho boys had better take a runnin' jump outer this man's country."