The old man abruptly wheeled his burro, and working his legs in the same eccentric manner as before soon vanished the way he had come.
"That's a queer character," commented Nat, as the old man disappeared and the party, which had watched his curious actions in spellbound astonishment, started on once more.
"Yes," agreed Cal, "and he's had enough to make him queer, too. A sheepman has a tough time of it. The cattlemen don't want 'em around the hills 'cos they say the sheep eat off the feed so close thar ain't none left fer the cattle. And sometimes the sheepmen start fires to burn off the brush, and mebbe burn out a whole county. Then every once in a while a bunch of cattlemen will raid a sheep outfit and clean it out."
"Kill the sheep?" asked Joe.
"Yep, and the sheepmen, too, if they so much as open their mouths to holler. I tell you a sheepman has his troubles."
"Was this fellow just a herder, or did he own a flock?" inquired Nat.
"I've heard that he owns his bunch," rejoined Cal. "He's had lots of trouble with cattlemen. No wonder he scuttled off when I tole him thar was a bunch of punchers behind."
"I'm sorry he went so quickly," said Nat, "I wanted to ask him some questions about the petrified forest."
"Well, we're about out of it now," said Cal, looking around.
Only a few solitary specimens of the strange, gaunt stone trees now remained dotting the floor of the canyon like lonely monuments. Presently they left the last even of these behind them, and before long emerged on a rough road which climbed the mountain side at a steep elevation.