Jed was feeling pretty frisky in the cool of the morning and was not at all sure that he wanted to be caught, but the kind words fascinated him once more and he finally permitted Scott to caress him and bridle him without a struggle. Scott was about to throw on the saddle blanket when his hand struck something sharp. He examined it and found a large burr. Scott whistled. “We would have had a fine time, old boy, if I had put that under the saddle.” He examined the whole blanket carefully but did not find anything more.
Heth was saddling his own horse and getting ready for the trip to town. He watched Scott mount and ride out of the corral. Scott thought that he showed extraordinary interest in him, but laid it to his horse and Heth’s natural curiosity to see how he sat his horse.
“What time do you think you’ll be back?” Scott called.
“Five or six,” Heth replied indifferently.
“So shall I,” Scott said, and rode slowly up to the ridge trail. Jed did not like traveling alone as well as he liked to go with another horse, but Mr. Ramsey had taught him a great deal in the short time he had ridden him and Scott had no trouble in managing him. He turned to the left on the ridge trail, the opposite direction to the way they had come in the day before, and proceeded to follow out the trails of his district by means of a small map.
It never occurred to Scott to look back and even if he had he probably would not have seen Heth who was standing in the bunch of brush beside the ridge trail watching him out of sight. No sooner was Heth sure of the course that Scott was taking than he hurried down to the cabin and grabbed the telephone. He took down the receiver very gently and listened. It was a party line and he wanted to be very sure that no one else was using it. Convinced that the line was clear he rang one short sharp ring, followed at a long interval by another. The call was not on the list and it very closely resembled the jingles so often produced by thunder storms in the mountains.
He listened patiently. A receiver clicked somewhere and a doubtful voice called “hello,” but Heth did not answer, nor did he repeat his ring. After at least two minutes of silence a voice said, “Well.”
“I’m going to town for chuck and chute stuff. He went south on trail and ’phone patrol. Burred his saddle this morning but he found it. Better get in rest of extras. Chute to-morrow. Cottonwood; eleven.” He hung up the receiver, glanced at his watch and strolled out to his horse.
Far down the valley Jed Clark called his foreman and gave some orders to his herders. And Dawson, far up in his little mountain cabin, prepared to ride north.
Scott rode slowly on his way, serenely unmindful of all this, and enjoying life immensely. The thin, open stand of timber on these grassy lands with the apparent absence of animal life was entirely new to him. At every turn of the trail a new vista of vast extent and strange crystal clearness opened up before him. He could have spent hours in studying the beauties of the scenery if he had not been impelled by his desire to cover his district and get away from his dependence on his guard. As it was he saw what he could on the fly and picked out many a place to spend a Sunday afternoon later on.