“Not lately.”
“Nor the white road agents?”
“They shot one of my herders less than a week ago. I believe they thought him a miner with gold. He was dressed somewhat like a miner, and he was coming out of the hills with filled saddle pouches. But the pouches held only some mineral specimens I had asked him to get for me. That trip cost him his life, poor fellow.”
“You know where that place is? We can, perhaps, find their trail there even yet.”
“You are ready to go with me, Cody?”
“That’s what I came for.”
“And I came in to get you and take you out to my place.”
“You spoke of your herder. Are you running a cattle ranch?”
“Not a ranch; but I keep a few, a very few, cattle. I am living there simply for the benefit of my health.”
His clear skin, the breadth of his shoulders, his general look of good health, in spite of gray hairs and gray beard, did not indicate that his health needed any especial care, as the scout noted.