“I didn’t realize it then, I reckon. I’m ready and willin’ to pay you back.”
“And leave me holdin’ the sack! Oh, no you don’t! Where have you got that steer now?”
“Oh, he’s safe enough,” replied the rancher. “He’s in the mountain meadow.”
“Then see that he stays there until after the rodeo,” said the foreman. “Deliver Nate’s steer to the rodeo barns tomorrow just as I told you. That’s all you have to do.”
Connie waited to hear no more. Quietly she slipped away from the cafe.
CHAPTER VI
Kidnaping Catapult
Connie felt a trifle stunned by the conversation which she had overheard.
“I’d never have believed it if I hadn’t heard with my own ears,” she thought. “Pop Bradshaw, who has stood for everything honest and square in this community! For five hundred dollars he means to keep Catapult out of the rodeo, substituting a steer which Blakeman will be sure to throw in the bulldogging event!”
The girl mounted Silvertail and started slowly Back toward the ranch. She rode along in deep thought for a time.
“I’ll not let Blakeman get by with it!” she exclaimed. “It’s a cheap, contemptible trick!”