"Goin' to ride over?" asked Pete, after the cook had left.
"No. But I'm goin' to throw a saddle on one of the never-sweats and I'm goin' to pick a good one."
"I reckon Blue Smoke'll do for me. You goin' to pull your freight, Ed?"
"We got our runnin' orders. The minute old man Ortez hands over that cash, there'll be a hole in the scenery where we was."
"That's my idee. But suppose we make it through to El Paso all right. What do we do next?"
"That's kind of like jumpin' off the aidge of the Grand Cañon and askin' yourself what you're goin' to do while you're in the air. We ain't lit yet."
CHAPTER XXX
BRENT'S MISTAKE
Following the trail that Brevoort and Pete had taken from the Ortez rancho, Arguilla and his men rode north and with them rode Ortez and several of his vaqueros. Within a few miles of the Olla the ragged soldiery swung west to the shelter of the low hills that ran parallel to the Olla line, while Ortez and his men rode directly to the Olla fence and entered a coulee near the big gate, where they waited the arrival of Brent and the herd.