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Rh others are up to somethin' or they 'd a come with him. He 's had just about time to make the trip on Shank's mare by takin' short cuts. They 've put him up to turn out the cattle an' drive 'em back while we snoozed."

"Maybe they did come with him," said Jud, "an' they 're waitin' somewhere. It would be like 'em to come sneakin' back an' try to drive the cattle over, an' put 'em in the river in the night, so it would look like they had got out an' gone away themselves."

Ump's forehead wrinkled like an accordion. "That 's fittin' to the size of 'em," he said, "an' about what they 're up to. But old Christian was surely by himself, an' I don't understand that. If they 'd a come with him, I 'd a seen 'em, or a heard the horses."

"I don't believe they came with him," said I.

"Why not?" said Jud.

"Because," I answered, "if they came with him they would have put Christian on a horse, and they would have stopped here to locate us. They could tell by looking in the stable. They 'd never wait until they got to the field.