But Dave, intent upon the unconscious back of Karl, had been careless of the surrounding country; and only his luck in choosing to wait in a place remote from cover, saved him just then from a rude awakening. Dodging about in the vain effort to approach to a point of vantage, was Pickles; he had finished certain mystic incantations involving the running at speed in circles, and was returning to await the fulfilment of his wish. Filled with awe as he was at this swift response, it did not prevent him from acting upon it. His arrival at the nearest possible point showed him that Dave was still out of range. For the first time a doubt of Buck’s omniscience assailed him: it was no part of wisdom to arm a man with a rifle of that sort. With cautious speed he retraced his steps, mounted the Goat, and scurried for the ranch by a roundabout route. There was nothing haphazard about this; his ideas were clearly defined: did n’t Red Connors always borrow Hopalong’s Sharps for long range? That showed. Pickles had implicit faith in the rifle. All that worried him was that Dave might not wait long enough. Karl rode leisurely up to the ranch house and called. Mary came to the door and behind her Buck, whose brow was wrinkled in the effort of composing a letter to McAllister. It was not an easy letter to write and Buck had enlisted Whitby’s services. He asked Karl to climb down and come inside. Mary had disappeared with a promptitude due to instinctive dislike. Karl was not a man to invite the admiration of any woman at the best of times and now his appearance gave abundant proof of its being long past "chipping-time." Karl entered with the unexpected lightness of step so often a compensating grace in fat men, shook hands with Whitby, accepted the proffered chair, and plunged into the reason of his visit with but little preamble. Whitby sat making idle marks with his pen; soon he began to write swiftly. "Big lot of cows you loose, ain’d it?" he asked. "A few," replied Buck. "Vat you t’ink: stampede?" "Looks like it." "_Look_ like it? _Donnerwetter_! Look like a drive." "You seen it?" Karl nodded. "Look like a drive," he repeated. "Would n’t surprise me none," admitted Buck. "We had Injuns shootin’ ’em on th’ range last night." "_Himmel_! Vat fools!" "Looks like they ’re tryin’ to drive me off ’n th’ range." "_Yah, aber_ not me. Ten years und no trouble come." "Huh! Well, what would _you_ do?" "Fight," advised Karl. "I vill fight if you let me in. I haf a plan." "In where?" asked Buck, in some wonder. "In der ranch—a partner. Look! Cows you must haf, money you must haf, brains you must haf: I bring dem. I bring shust so much money as you und your partner togedder. Der money in der bank _geht_. You buy der cows, goot stock, besser as before. Goot cows, goot prices, ain’d it? You pay for everyt’ing mit der money in der bank. I stay here und stop dot foolishness mit precipices und parasites und shooting. Vat you dink?"