Him
ketchum yo' ranch. Yo' see." He stopped and stared hard at the
dim bulk of the grove, whence came the faint odor of smoke from
Baumberger's pipe.
"Yo' be smart man," he added grimly, "yo' all same kickum dat
mans off yo' ranch." For emphasis he thrust out a foot
vigorously in the direction of the house and the man he maligned,
and turned his face toward camp. Peaceful watched until the
blanketed form merged into the dusk creeping over the valley, and
when it disappeared finally into the short cut through the sage,
he shook his gray head in puzzlement over the absurd warning, and
went back to talk politics with Baumberger.
CHAPTER X MIDNIGHT PROWLERS
Came midnight and moonlight together, and with them came also
Good Indian riding somewhat sullenly down the trail to the ranch.
Sullen because of Evadna's attitude, which seemed to him
permanently antagonistic, and for very slight cause, and which
made the ranch an unpleasant abiding place.
He decided that he would not stop at the ranch, but would go on
up the valley to where one Abuer Hicks lived by himself in a
half-dugout, half-board shack, and by mining a little where his
land was untillable, and farming a little where the soil took
kindly to fruit and grasses, managed to exist without too great
hardship.
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