“Lot of difference in the sleep, too. By golly, I can go back to the old Nine-Bar-Nine and play m’ jew’s-harp unmolested, too.” “Nobody stoppin’ yuh from moanin’ it around here, is there?” “Yeah—moanin’! By golly, you ain’t got no appreciation for music, Brick. Moanin’ ——! Yuh got to sing through it. How in —— do yuh expect me to play it, if I don’t sing into it?” “I don’t expect yuh to play it, Harp. Nobody hankers for yuh to play it. Hang the thing up and let the wind play it.” “Uh-huh.” “Or go over and serenade Mrs. Wesson. She speaks highly of yore ability. I’d be ashamed to let Sam Leach beat me out of a girl.” “The —— you would? Well, he’s beatin’ yuh out of a job.” “I reckon that’ll hold me for a while,” grinned Brick. Harp had got to his feet and was starting for the door, when Silent Slade came stomping inside. He advanced to Brick’s desk and slapped a piece of fairly fresh cow-hide down on its polished top. It landed with a wet thud and the concussion knocked several papers to the floor. “Get that dirty thing off my desk!” snapped Brick. “What do yuh think this is—a tannery?” “Look at that!” snorted Silent, pointing at the offending object. “Look at that piece of hide, dog-gone yuh!” “All right, I’m lookin’!” retorted Brick. “Do yuh see it? Yuh do? See the Nine-Bar-Nine brand on that section of cow skin? See the edge has been burned? Yuh do? Huh!” “Yeah, I see all them things,” grinned Brick. “Why didn’t yuh herd the cow in here? The sample looks all right.” “Funny, ain’tcha?” Silent poked his finger at the piece of hide carefully as though expecting it to snap at him. “Well, what’s the joke?” asked Harp. “You’ve made a lot of medicine over that piece of eppy-der-mis. What was the matter with the old critter—have dandruff?” “——’s delight!” roared Silent. “That’s a Nine-Bar-Nine cow. Somebody killed it and burned the hide. But they missed on the important part of the thing. See where it was burnt?” “Where did yuh find it, Silent?” queried Brick seriously. Silent sat down and rolled a cigaret. He had excited their curiosity and now he was going to take his own sweet time in answering their question. “Yuh hadn’t ought to have asked him that, Brick,” said Harp. “He prob’ly don’t remember.” “Yeah?” Silent shaped his cigaret and scratched a match on the sole of his boot. “I found that hide in Big Elk Canon.” “Yo’re the one that’s tellin’ the story,” reminded Brick. “I got to thinkin’ about that poor little kid,” stated Silent thoughtfully. “I knowed it wasn’t no use lookin’ for him after all this time, but I went anyway. I rode in close to the mouth of the cañon and took plenty of time. About a mile or so up the bottom I cut into one of them side gulches, kinda lookin’ around. “I seen horse-tracks and cow-tracks, and I got to figurin’ that was why the grizzly was hangin’ around the cañon. Pretty soon I runs onto the remains of an old fire. It’s several days old, and right there I discovers a piece of cow-hide.