None of the other cowboys of the ranch had noticed anything peculiar about the man outside of his levity, and Mason resolved to watch him more closely in the future.

It was an exhausted group of men that halted in the mountains that night to confer as to their next move. They had failed miserably to pick up any clue of the whereabouts of Josephine and her captors.

The cowboys were in an ugly mood by this time. On their hunt they had seen nothing of Bud and his men.

Mason’s strength had seemed superhuman as he untiringly urged the men on to greater efforts.

The shock caused by the halfbreed’s bullet had left him, and except for a faint scar on his temple he showed no signs of his close call from death.

Scotty was in a fretful mood and urged them to make Ricker’s at once in the hope of picking up some information.

“I’ll tell you what we had better do,” he spoke up eagerly. “We’ll go to Ricker’s and stand watch all night. We can stay just far enough away so they won’t get on to us, and maybe the half breed will try to sneak through our line. What do you think of the idea, Joe?”

Big Joe Turner did some quick thinking.

“Sounds good to me,” he said at last. “Bud wanted us to meet him to-night at Bar X, but if Powers is with the halfbreed, and I am convinced he is, we can do no better than to watch Ricker’s all night.”

“And there is a chance that one of them may try to sneak back there for supplies or something, and we will stand a chance of catching one of them,” cut in Tex, giving his belt an extra hitch.

The plan was agreed to at once, and they pressed their tired horses hard to get to the ranch before it became too dark. Scotty was delighted that his plan had been accepted, and listened eagerly as Big Joe explained the methods they were to employ.

“We will ride up to within fifty yards or so of the ranch,” he was saying, “and we will surround the house and keep watch all night. If nothing develops we will draw off in the morning and make for home to hear what Bud has to report.”

A set of signals was then carefully prepared and understood by all. By the time they reached Ricker’s it was quite dark, but the stars snowed plainly.

Big Joe placed his men and they all 

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