第428页 / 共439页

"I reckon not. This ain't the track of his big bay. Must 'a' been

yesterday, too, because it rained the night before."

For some hours they could see occasionally the tracks of the two

horses, but eventually lost them where two trails forked.

"Taking the Sweetwater cutout to the Butte, I reckon," Howard

surmised.

They traveled all day, except for a stop about ten o'clock for

breakfast, and another late in the afternoon, to rest the horses.

At night, they put up at a ranch house, and were in the saddle

again early in the morning. Before noon, they struck a telephone

line, and Fraser called up Brandt at a ranch.