“I’ll come for the answer, and it’s going to be a favorable answer, too,” replied the Texan. “Furthermore I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going away, but I’m going to try homesteading on a little land I’ve got picked out, up the creek. I’m going to settle down and be a citizen here, and I want you to treat me like a good neighbor.”
The girl did not answer, but, swinging lightly to the saddle, dashed away from the cabin.
The Texan watched her until she disappeared down the trail that made a short cut to the Caldwell ranch. Then he said: “We’ll have plenty of time to finish the job now. Let’s go in and work some more on those nature notes, Uncle Billy.”
CHAPTER VII
THE MASKED HORSEMAN.
Alma Caldwell assumed the burden of managing Nick Caldwell’s ranch. She was the only heir of the man who had been dubbed by his slayers “the king of the rustlers,” but who, as Bertram had discovered, had some prominent connection with the other side in the cattle war.
Most of the Caldwell cattle were running in the hills, mixed with the stock from other ranches in the neighborhood. Comparatively little of Nick Caldwell’s ranch was under cultivation. Like most other ranchers in that part of the State he contented himself with raising enough alfalfa for his saddle stock and a little winter feeding, in case of an unusually severe season. But for the most part it was “horseback farming” that was practiced everywhere.
Alma’s day was largely spent in the saddle. With her, as a small, but valiant, bodyguard, went young Jimmy Coyle. There was only one point of difference between the cousins, and that was Alma’s dismissal of Milton Bertram. Jimmy not only stood up for the Texan, but visited him frequently during the remainder of Bertram’s stay at Uncle Billy’s. Also it was Jimmy who came to Alma with the first news that the Texan had made good his words, and had located on a homestead.
“It’s up at the headwaters of the Roaring Fork, ’way up above Uncle Billy’s,” said Jimmy. “Milt’s got a cabin all built, and he’s took on a pardner, a cowboy named Archie Beam, from Swingley’s outfit. Beam couldn’t stand Swingley’s goins on, so he and Milt have hooked up together. They’ve got some good range right back of ’em, and Milt’s goin’ to have some cattle drove up from Texas, and I’m bettin’ they make good, right from the start.”
Alma refused to show any interest.
“I don’t see why you’re mad at Milt Bertram,” went on Jimmy. “He’s a dandy, I think. And say, I never saw anybody shoot the way he can. He’s that quick with both hands. I can see now that it was only fool luck that kept me from bein’ filled full of lead, after I had plugged him in the shoulder that time. He never asks about you, but I know he wants to hear all about what luck you’re havin’ at ranchin’. I’ve told him as much as I could about things here, specially about the cattle you’ve been losin’ lately.”