"When court opens. As soon as Boykin comes up for trial, Garnett will appear as a witness against him in this case of assault that he arrested him for." "He attacked another man?" "Yes, he got into a fight up on the way to the reserve; ran his sheep under the fence onto Rudy Batt's land, and when Rudy set his dogs on the sheep, Boykin, or Hunter, leaped on him with a stick, just as he did on me, and beat him up." "Mercy! What a murderous creature! I'm glad some one arrested him at last." "Yes, that's another thing I want to stay over here for: to appear against him in court. He may get six months in the pen." "I hope he will. I wonder what he changed his name for? What a funny thing to do!" "That's not so uncommon. A man often skips the country and changes his name when he's done something and is afraid of the law. Garnett says that Hunter was herding cattle for the same outfit he was with, and that he was always quarreling with some one. Then one night he pulled a gun on one of the boys, and lit out without waiting to see whether he'd killed him or not." "Had he killed him?" "No, lucky for him. But you see he had filed on a homestead out there, and so he's got no right to this one." "Then we can surely get it." "Not so sure. As soon as Joyce sees what's going to happen, he may jump in and put another man on there." "O Bob! Could he? Would it be possible?" "Why not? If he's slick enough to have done it so often, it won't bother him to do it once more. But there's time enough to think about that later. You must hit for home now, if you're to make it before dark. Let's see. You need groceries, don't you?" "Yes. I forgot that to-day was Sunday." "Well, see here. Go to the hotel and ask the clerk, Dougherty, to telephone down to his brother at the mercantile company store. Jack Dougherty is bookkeeper there, and he's usually down at the store early Sunday morning; he'll let you in to get what you want. When you get home, better round up the heifers every night to be sure they're all there. I may hear of the cow over this way." Before Rob's calm, matter-of-fact attitude Harry's reluctance at going back to the ranch alone appeared childish. So she said good-by cheerily and started out. The sun was high and the morning breeze dead when at last she left the poplar-shaded streets of the old mining town and struck the long road up the cañon to the top of the divide. She met only one person on the road, and that was Joyce. He was driving his motor car toward Hailey. When he came in sight the team began to prance nervously. Joyce got out and came up to them. He looked curiously at Harry, but did not recognize her until she spoke to thank him for quieting the horses. "Say!" he exclaimed. "Ain't you the lady from Connecticut? Sure. What you doin' out here alone? Where's your brother at?" "He had to stay in Hailey on business," she answered, smiling a little. Soon enough Joyce would know what the business was. CHAPTER VIII