With supper over the men rolled up in their blankets. The major slept in the wall bunk while Tex and Shorty bedded down on the floor. They did not stay up longer than the time it took to wash the dishes and split some wood for the breakfast fire. They would all be up and in the saddle by daylight the next morning. Tex meant to ride the upper range and to map out his campaign. He had a feeling there was need for haste. The black stallion would have to be brought in that summer. Sam had to be got back to his high mesa if he was to come at all. The next morning Tex was up before the other two men had wakened. He made coffee in the blackened pot and finished up what had been left of Shorty’s biscuits. With a can of tomatoes, a tin of fish and some coffee from the cupboard he left the cabin. The rising sun found him on a high ridge overlooking the sweep of the lower slopes of the Crazy Kills. He studied the meadows below, watching the timbered edges of the clearings, but he saw no sign of the black stallion. After that he set about checking the meadows, following the trails from valley to valley. About noon he came on two of the wild mares. He did not alarm them and they did not know he had seen them. Later he came on three more in a meadow far from where he had located the first two. At four that afternoon he found two others feeding beside a stream miles from the others. And he had come across no sign of the black stallion, not even his tracks. He began to wonder what had happened to the colt. And he was beginning to wonder if the band had not separated for good. The mares he had come on had been feeding or lying down. They had not seemed to be looking for the others. Tex refused to be worried, but he rode until darkness forced a halt. He built a little fire to heat water for coffee. He had eaten the tinned fish and tomatoes at noon. But he was determined to camp where he was and go on with the search in the morning. The next day Tex rode until evening without coming on the black or crossing his trail. He was convinced now that the stallion was making no effort to round up the mares, that he was too young and inexperienced to have developed band leadership. He knew he faced a tough job but he had no idea of quitting. He would need a pack horse and supplies to stay in the hills more than two days. That meant he would have to return to the home ranch. He rode back to the high-line cabin and cooked a meal. There was no one at the cabin and he rolled up on the bunk as soon as he had eaten. The next day he headed for the home ranch. The major did not object when Tex told him his plans. But Tex knew that a week would probably be all he would be allowed for the hunt. The major would be calling him in to take charge of other work. He was convinced his boss was giving him this time so that he would have a chance to settle the matter that had been between them since Sam was taken away.