“Gilly Froud’s gang? No! You think that sneak has got nerve enough to boss a bunch of rustlers? He was one of my gang until now, an’ I hope he gets it good! Thought he could kill me an’ take all the cattle for himself--left me for dead an’ rode away. But I fooled him! I ain’t dead yet, by a long shot! I waited till I saw him go, then I started on foot--he’d taken my bronc. Somehow I couldn’t stop this bleedin’, an’ I got weaker. Then it started to rain, an’ I said, ‘Well, here goes nothin’.’ I made for this shack, thinkin’ I’d come here an’ die, where I kept my brandin’ irons--an’ right good irons they are, too, if I do say it myself! I wanted to take one more look at ’em. Had an idea that the 8 X 8 brand wasn’t just perfect, an’ I wanted to find out before I passed on. You see, we sometimes have to use the old iron with the new.” He looked up at Roy, who was holding the wooden handle of the tourniquet. “Was it all right? Does that curl on the eight look real?” “It does,” Roy answered, glancing down with a puzzled expression. A man who thought he was dying wanting to take a last look at the irons with which he branded stolen horses! “Glad of that,” the wounded man said, with a sigh. “I never made a mistake on an iron in my life, an’ I just wanted to satisfy myself before I kicked the bucket. Well, I guess you know the rest. Here I am. What are you goin’ to do with me?” “But our horses!” Teddy demanded. “Where are they?” “Oh, they’re safe. We got ’em corralled with the cattle. I said I didn’t steal ’em, and I didn’t. But I saw ’em stolen. I was leanin’ against Rimor’s Place that day you met me. It was Froud that took yore broncs. He said yore dad kicked him off yore ranch, an’ he wanted to get even. I tole him to ferget it, but he wouldn’t. Said he’d get square if it was the last thing he ever did--that he wanted to finish beatin’ a certain hoss. It was this that turned me against him. I may be a rustler, but I never beat no hoss! Nor hurt one!” “Did Froud beat the pony?” Teddy asked, his eyes gleaming with a strange light. “Did he?” “Started to. I seen him, an’ made him quit. Guess he got sore at me then, an’ decided to do me an’ keep the cattle we rustled fer himself!” Teddy looked at the man sympathetically. “You wouldn’t let him whip Flash? I’ll remember that. Go ahead. Tell us where our ponies are.” “Will you let me go if I do?” the man asked cunningly. Roy glanced at his brother. Teddy knew what was in Roy’s mind, for it was in his own, too. They could get Flash, Star, and General back. Also, they might recapture the cattle stolen from the 8 X 8. If they could get Froud, too, and jail him, together with the other rustlers, the country would be rid of a band of rascals. On the other hand, here was the man who had confessed that he was the ringleader. If they let him go, he might start another gang and create more disturbance. “Will you promise to give up horse stealing if we do?” Roy demanded.