IMPORTANT TIDINGS.
It seemed strange that the messenger, if such he was, should know the
right course to follow in order to reach the camp of Capt. Asbury, for
he was riding directly toward it, and that, too, at the highest speed
of which his horse was capable.
But Monteith Sterry had noted a fact which escaped the captain, though
he was an observant man. The horseman was not approaching the camp at
the moment the couple reached the crest of the elevation and began
scrutinizing the surrounding country; he was going at right angles to
it, but (as it afterward proved) he carried a glass, with which, at
that moment, he was also scanning the horizon for something he was
very anxious to find.
Fortunately he caught sight of the couple, and though he could not be
assured of their identity at so great a distance, the suspicion of
the truth as to Capt. Asbury caused him to put his animal to his best
speed.
In a brief time he rode up. While some rods away he recognized the
captain and saluted him. A little nearer approach and he identified
Sterry, who was astonished beyond measure to discover that he was his
old friend, Dick Hawkridge, toward whose ranch he had ridden on the
preceding evening.
"You're out early, Dick," was the salutation of Sterry, as his old
friend reined up beside him and extended his hand.
"And are riding hard," added Capt. Asbury, who liked the young man.
"I ride hard," replied Hawkridge, gravely, "because there is need of
it; I was looking for you."
"And why looking for me?" inquired the captain.
"Because you and your men are in great peril."
"Ah. What might be its nature?"
"From the rustlers."
"I was trying to persuade myself that it was they who were in peril
from us, but you put it differently."
"It might be as you wish if you had twenty-five or fifty men; but with
less than a dozen, and more than twice that number looking for you,
discretion is the better part of valor."
"Tell me, Hawkridge, how all this interesting information came to
you," continued Capt. Asbury.
"My ranch is not far to the northward, my cattle are ranging among the
foothills of the Big Horn Mountains, and all my hands are with them. I
sat up late last night, going over my accounts and trying to get them
into shape, and it was past midnight when two rustlers rode up. I
supposed they meant to stay all night and invited them in. I have
never had any trouble with them, and they had two purposes in
calling. One was to give me a little advice, and the other to secure
information."
"Their advice, I suppose, was that you cast in your fortunes with
them, and take up the business of branding mavericks and altering
other brands."
"Hardly that, but it was that I should keep out of the trouble, for
there are going to be ugly times. Now you know that, however much I
may wish to let things proceed smoothly, I will never identify myself
with the law-breakers. I gave my callers to understand that, and I
think they respect my position.
"It seems to me," added Hawkridge, thoughtfully, "that there have been
some woeful mistakes made. The Cattle Association have organized
an expedition to rid Johnson, Natroma and Converse Counties of
cattle-thieves, as they call them. They have imported twenty-five
picked men from Texas, every one of whom is a fighter and dead shot,
with Capt. Smith, an ex-U.S. marshal, as their leader. One of the
party may be taken as a type of the rest. He is Scott Davis, once a
guard on the Deadwood coach, and he carries a gun with twenty notches
on the stock, each representing the death of a road-agent or other
outlaw.
"The expedition left Cheyenne some days ago and is somewhere in this
section. Strong as it is, it is doomed to defeat, for I don't care
how brave and skilful those fellows are, they are no more so than the
rustlers, who far outnumber them.
"However, it isn't that which concerns you and me just now, though it
may do so later. The rustlers have learned that you are out with a
small party, and they are after you."
Capt. Asbury was a brave man, and he did not start on hearing this
announcement, for he had been expecting it from the first; but he
was prudent as well as daring, and he knew his young friend did not
underestimate the danger of himself and companions.
"Have they learned anything about last night's doings?" asked Sterry.
"That's what started me off after you in such a hurry. My callers
stayed more than two hours, and were about leaving when who should
ride up but Duke Vesey, with his story of the killing of his comrade,
Jack Perkins, by you and your men."
"I suppose he called it a murder," remarked Capt. Asbury,
sarcastically.
"Yes, the worst kind, too. I knew he was drawing a long bow, but he
will tell it to others, and it will spread like wildfire. He was
looking for Ira Inman, Larch Cadmus and his party. There are more of
them than you and others are aware of, riding up and down the country,
ripe for any mischief. From what I know, Inman and a dozen of the most
desperate rustlers are in the neighborhood, and as the two fellows who
were at my ranch volunteered to help Vesey find them they will do it
pretty soon, if they have not already done so. Vesey declared it as
his belief that you would be discovered not far from his burned home,
so as soon as they left I mounted my best horse and started to give
you warning."
"I appreciate your kindness, Hawkridge; how did you know the right
direction?"
"I knew the course to Vesey's ranch, and was speeding that way when
I caught sight of you and Sterry on the top of this hill. I took a
squint through my glass, was pretty sure who it was, and then came
like mad. I didn't suspect it was you though, Mont, until I almost ran
against you."
"Did Vesey say anything about me?" asked Sterry, with a meaning glance
at the captain.
"He said you had acted like a white man in some dispute, but he didn't
give the particulars and I didn't question him. He is intensely bitter
against the captain and his party, and declares that not one of them
shall get out of the country alive; and, captain, Duke Vesey is a man
of his word."
"Then I suppose I may consider myself disposed of," replied Asbury,
with a laugh.
"Not as bad as that, but it depends upon yourself."
"What do you advise?"
"Start southward at once with your men; if you meet the Texans and
their friends, join them if you choose; it will make their strength so
much the greater, and they need it all. If you fail to meet them,
keep on till you cross the Platte and strike Fort Fetterman. In other
words, captain, you have no business to be where you are."