"Can't a man speak his mind?" Carp demanded.
"He can talk his head off," Harris said. "But he can't overlook any Three Bar calves on his circle while I'm running the layout. Morrow tried that on while he was breaking you in."
Carp surveyed the faces of the men and started to speak but changed his mind and headed for the rope corral.
"He's a cringing sort of miscreant," Moore said as Carp rode off. "He was even afraid to speak up for himself—thought maybe the boys would pass sentence on him before he could get out of sight. I expect Carp is poor sort of folks."
"That's going to leave us short-handed," Harris said to the girl. "Morrow, Carp and Bangs—three short. Horne ought to get back from Brill's to-day. We've only one more week out so I guess we can worry through."
"How did you know?" she asked. "About Carp, I mean."
"Lanky caught him overlooking a bunch of cows with calves," Harris explained. "Lanky is worth double pay."
The Three Bar girl had noted that Carpenter had been much with Bentley, Slade's rep, since Morrow had gone. She had come to be suspicious of all things connected with Slade.
"Are you watching Bentley?" she asked.
Harris shook his head.