Tex halted behind a clump of bushes on a ridge and sat looking up a long, narrow valley. His keen eyes lighted up with excitement as they rested on a small band of horses feeding close to the timbered edge of the valley. He spotted the black stallion with a pinto filly feeding beside him. Deliberately Tex studied the ground and laid plans. It would take most of an hour to circle the band so as to have the timber as a screen for his approach and the wind right. And his plan called for sending them back into the lower country instead of higher into the barrens where trailing would be tough. He was sure the band would feed for at least an hour. The mares were fagged and hungry, he could see that, even at a great distance. Heading the bay up a narrow ledge, he climbed to the top of the rim overlooking the valley and dropped down on the far slope. The pace Midnight had set in driving the mares into the high barrens had taxed their strength. They had finally refused to go any further and he had let them pause to feed and rest. But he was nervous and kept moving about, jerking his head high, sniffing and snorting. The excitement of the battle on the mesa below was still in him. He lacked the experience of the chestnut stallion and he did not know the country into which he was headed. Instinct had made him strike for the barrens, but he did not know where to go now that he had reached the rough country. So he let the mares feed while he moved about pulling a mouthful of grass here and there. The pinto stayed close by him as though sure he would protect her from all danger. Midnight fed above the mares and close to the narrow trail leading up to a saddle on the ridge above. The meadow was really a bench with a rock wall on one side and a slope on the other. It lay along the edge of a deep canyon but it was not a trap as the little meadow had been; it was wide open at both ends and timber grew close, affording shelter which could be reached in a few seconds. Midnight watched the trail above and the meadow below, he tested the air, and he listened. Suddenly he stiffened, his nostrils flaring as he listened intently. The sound of a loosened stone had come to him. The pinto sensed something and edged close to his side. Midnight snorted warningly and the mares instantly lifted their heads, ready to leap to cover.