CHAPTER XIV.
UNWELCOME CALLERS.
Although Budd Hankinson and Grizzly Weber were removed from the scene of the events described, the night was not to pass without their becoming actors in some stirring incidents.
Ordinarily they would have spent the hours of darkness at the ranch of their employer, for the immense herds of cattle, as a rule, required no looking after.

The ranges over which they grazed were so extensive that they were left to themselves, sometimes wandering for many miles from the home of their owner.

They might not be seen for days and weeks.

Their brands and the universal respect in which such proof of proprietorship was held prevented, as a rule, serious loss to the owners.
But the date will be recognized by the reader as one of a peculiarly delicate nature, when men were obliged to look more closely after their rights than usual.
The couple, therefore, rode behind the cattle to the foothills, along which they were expected to graze for an indefinite time.

Hustlers were abroad, and the occurrences of the previous day had inflamed the feeling between them and the cowmen.