He was facing south, and he raised his head after a few minutes, for upon the slight breeze was borne to him the rapid drumming of hoofs. As he looked up he saw, far out toward the southern edge of the valley, a dust cloud, moving swiftly toward him. At first he suspected that the men in the group belonged to Deveny, and he drew out his pistols, one after the other, and examined them--for he decided--if Deveny was among the men--to settle for good the question of power and authority that Haydon had raised. When the men came closer, though, swooping toward the ranchhouse like feathers before a hurricane, he saw that Rogers was among them. Then, as the men came toward him down along the corral fence, Harlan saw that Rogers' eyes were wide with excitement. And he stood, his face darkening, as Rogers told him what he had seen, and voiced his suspicions. "We're with you, Harlan," declared Rogers, sweeping a hand toward the men; "an' them other boys which have trailed Deveny, are with you. We're out to 'get' Deveny if you say the word; and that thief, Haydon, too." Harlan did not answer. He grinned at the men, though, and at Rogers--acknowledging his gratitude for their decision to be "with" him; then he turned, leaped on Purgatory, and sent the big beast thundering toward the timber that led to the main trail. Their voices silent, their horses falling quickly into the pace set by the big black, Rogers and the other men followed. The other half of Rogers' men, headed by Colver, were several miles behind Deveny's horsemen when they reached the South Trail. They gained very little on the other men, though, for Deveny and his men were just then racing Barbara to the point where the trails converged, having seen her. But during Deveny's halt at the covert, where he had shot Stroud, Colver's men gained, and they were not more than two or three miles from the covert when Deveny's men left it. From the shelving trail, ever sweeping toward the trail in the valley, Colver had noted the halt at the covert, though he had not seen Barbara, nor Stroud. He had seen, of course, that Deveny had not gone to the Rancho Seco, that for some reason or other he had swerved, taking the trail up the valley. Colver was puzzled, but he remembered Rogers' orders, and when he and his men reached the covert, they halted. They came upon Stroud, lying near some bushes, and they saw his horse, grazing on the tall grass near by. They had reached the covert too late to see Barbara's pony; and when they remounted, after taking a look at Stroud, they caught a glimpse of a lone horseman racing up the valley in the direction taken by Deveny and his men. The lone horseman was Red Linton, though Colver did not know it, for the South Trail dipped into the basin miles before it emerged to the level at the point of convergence with the other trail, and Colver had not seen Linton when he had passed.