Page 263 of 439

By devious paths the cattleman guided his horse until he came to

a kind of pouch, guarded by a thick growth of aspens. The front

of these he skirted, plunged into them at the farther edge, and

followed a narrow trail which wound among them till the grove

opened upon a saucer-shaped valley in which nestled a little log

cabin. Lights gleamed from the windows hospitably and suggested

the comfortable warmth of a log fire and good-fellowship. So many

a hunted man had thought as he emerged from that grove to look

down upon the valley nestling at his feet.

Jed turned his horse into a corral back of the house, let out the

hoot of an owl as he fed and watered, and returning to the cabin,

gave the four knocks that were the signal for admission.

Bolts were promptly withdrawn and the door thrown open by a

slender, fair-haired fellow, whose features looked as if they had

been roughed out and not finished. He grinned amiably at the

newcomer and greeted him with: "Hello, Jed."