JOHNNY IS NOT PAID TO THINK On that same Saturday afternoon, at about the time when Mary V sighted Bland at the southeast corner of Sixth and Spring, Johnny stood just under the peak behind Mateo's cabin and saw a lone horseman ride across the upper neck of the little valley and disappear into the brush on the side opposite him.

He waited impatiently.

The rider did not reappear, but presently he saw what looked like a human figure crouched behind a rock well up the slope.

Johnny stared until his eyes watered with the strain, but he could not be sure that the object was a man.

If it were, the man was without a doubt placed there for purposes of observation.