Silcott slid from the saddle and joined the circle. He found a seat beside McCoy.
“I want to see you alone, Mac,” he said in a low voice.
Rowan nodded, paid no more attention to him, and joined again in the general conversation. But presently he got up and strolled toward the remuda.
Larry casually joined him.
“Tait has been across the dead line for two days, Mac. He’s travelling straight for the Circle Diamond with fifteen hundred sheep. About a third of them belong to Gilroy. Joe has two herders with him.”
“Where are they camped to-night?”
“At the foot of Bald Knob.”
“Is Gilroy with them?”
“No. He was this morning, but he telephoned his wife from Westcliff that he would be home to-night.”
The boss of the round-up looked away at the purple hills, his close-gripped jaw clamped tight, his eyes narrowed almost to slits.