The door was not locked. A rawhide thong tied it fast to a staple in the door jamb. With the bell shrilling its summons inside, the man paused long enough to study the knotting of the thong before he untied it and stepped inside. He went to the telephone slowly, thoughtfully, his cigarette held between two fingers, his forehead drawn down so that his eyebrows were pinched together. He hesitated perceptibly before he took down the receiver. Then he grinned. "Hello!" His voice was hoarse, slightly muffled. He grinned again when he caught the mildly querulous tones of Sudden Selmer, sharpened a little by the transmitter. "Where the dickens have you been? I've been trying all evening to get you," Sudden complained. "Huh? Oh, I just got in. I been fixing fence over west of here. Took me till dark--No, the stock's all in--wind had blowed down a couple of them rotten posts--well, they was rotten enough to sag over, so I had to reset them--Had to reset them, I said! Dig new holes!" He turned his face a little away from the transmitter and coughed, then grinned while he listened. "Oh, nothing--just a cold I caught--Don't amount to anything. I'm doctoring it. I always get hoarse when I catch a little cold--Sure, everything's all right. I'm going to ride fence to-morrow--That so? It blowed to beat the cars, down here all night--Why, they're lookin' fine--No, ain't saw a soul. I guess they know better than to bother our stock--All right, Mr. Selmer, I will--and say! I might be late in getting in to-morrow, but everything's fine as silk--All right--G' bye!" He hung up the receiver before he started to laugh, but once he did start, he laughed all the time he was re-tying the door in the same kind of knot Johnny had used, and all the while he was returning to the corral. "Fell for it, all right. Nothing can beat having a cold right handy," he chuckled when he had turned out the stock, whistled for the sentinel, and mounted his horse. "Guess I better happen around to-morrow evening. They won't be back--not if they bring it with 'em." While he waited for the guard to come in, he eyed the corral and its immediate neighborhood, and afterward inspected the cloud-flecked sky. "Corral shows a bunch of stock has been penned here," he muttered. "But the wind'll raise before sun-up. I guess it'll be all right." The sentinel came trotting around the corner. "How many?" he asked, riding alongside the other. "Fifteen, all told. To-morrow night we'll cull that bunch that ranges west of here. Won't do to trim out too many at a time, and they may be back here to-morrow night. They will if they can't get it over. I don't much expect they will, at that--unless they bring it in pieces. Still, yuh can't tell what a crazy kid'll take a notion to do; not when he's got a bug like Tex says this one has got." "Tex is pretty cute, aw-right. Me, I'd never a thought of that."