Snippets placed her fingers to her lips and whistled. Princess cocked her ears, then, followed by her mate, dashed toward the girl. Snippets, undismayed by the snapping teeth, rubbed the mare’s soft muzzle.
“Hop on her, kid, ’cause those gents will be tearin’ mad,” he urged.
After they were mounted, Snippets glanced about in bewildered recognition of the landscape. “Why, this is the Bar X—uncle’s ranch!” she gasped. “What does it mean?”
Allen hesitated. “Reckon you’ll learn some time, so I might as well tell yuh, kid, that Ace Cutts is a bad actor.”
She thought of her uncle, of his fondness for the boy, and grew silent. Side by side they rode toward town in the bright morning sunlight.
Five riders approached out of a draw to the north of the lava fields. They were heading fast for the Bar X Ranch. Anderson, their leader, jerked his horse to a sudden, sliding stop. He pointed to the two figures on a smooth meadow a mile before them.
“Who the hell is that clown there?” he cried.
Quick suspicion fired the Yuma Kid. “Two grays!” he rasped.
Baldy’s thin lips drew back in a toothless snarl. “The Wolf!”