"How about that surprise?" queried Bartley.
"Ain't this good enough?" said Cheyenne, gesturing roundabout.
"Gosh, yes! Lead on, Macduff."
About four that afternoon the horses pricked their ears and quickened their pace. Filaree and Joshua especially seemed interested in getting along the silent trail; and presently the trail merged with another trail, more defined. A few hundred yards down this trail, and Bartley saw a big log cabin; to the left and beyond it a corral, empty, and with the bars down. Bartley had never seen the place before, and did not realize where he was, yet he had noticed that the horses seemed to know the place.
"We won't stop by," said Cheyenne.
"Any one live there?"
"Sneed used to," stated Cheyenne.
Then Bartley knew that they were not far from the San Andreas Valley and--well, the Lawrence ranch.
They dropped down a long trail into another cañon which finally spread to a green valley dotted with ranches. The horses stepped briskly. Presently, rounding a bend, they saw a ranch-house, far below, and sharply defined squares of alfalfa.
"That house with the red roof--" said Bartley.