“Well, I never took any medals for fancy riding,” he confessed.
Scotty grinned. “We have a nice little ride ahead of us,” he said, as he turned and watched Red coming up.
Mason mounted his horse and the party started. Scotty was leading and singing snatches of Scotch songs. Mason lapsed into a moody silence and Red looked at him curiously as they rode along. The Easterner was thinking of the girl Red had mentioned and wondered if she was the girl his father had spoken of. Turning to Red he asked:
“Who is this Miss Josephine you spoke to Scotty about?”
“That’s old man Walters’ girl,” answered Red, as he rode his mount closer to Mason’s horse.
“She’s the idol of the ranch,” he continued, “and the boys would fight for her at the drop of the hat. With the exception of one or two,” he added with an oath.
“How’s that?” queried Mason in surprise.
“Well,” grumbled Red, “there’s two cursed onery punchers on our range that I don’t trust no more then I would a rattlesnake.”
Mason glancing ahead, noticed that Scotty had pulled his horse in and was listening with jaws tightly set. “Red, why don’t Walters get rid of these men?” queried the Easterner, coming back to the subject.
“Oh, they are good men on the range, and the old man hates to let them go,” replied Red with a vicious look. “Ain’t I right, Scotty?”