"I'll ask Mr. Norton," Russ volunteered, and, as the ranch proprietor came along at that moment, Russ had his chance.
"That? Oh, that belongs to a new man I hired the other day," said the ranchman.
"What sort of a man is he?" asked Mr. Pertell, suspiciously.
"Well, not as good a sort as I thought he was. He knows a little about cow-punching; but not much. Still, I was short of help and had to put him on."
"What—what does he do with that?" asked Russ, pointing to the camera out on the bench.
"That? Oh he says that's an electric battery. He uses it for rheumatism; but I haven't seen him work it yet. He said it was out of order, and he's tinkering with it the last few days. Why?"
"Oh, I was just—just wondering," returned Russ, evasively.
Then, as he passed on to the dining room, he saw, through a window, a man hurry up to the bench and remove the camera. Russ could not recall ever having seen this man.
"There's something queer about this," said Mr. Pertell to his operator. "What would a cowboy be doing with a moving picture camera?"