Hastily parting the bushes, he looked through to catch a glimpse of the horseman, but he was a moment too late; the rider had disappeared from sight in the timber.

But, in a little open space among the cedars, the cowboy saw Yavapai Joe, standing beside a calf, fresh-branded with the Four-Bar-M iron, and earmarked with the Tailholt marks.
Patches knew instantly, as well as though he had witnessed the actual branding, what, had happened.

That part of the range was seldom visited except by the Dean's cowboys, and the Tailholt Mountain men, knowing that the Cross-Triangle riders were all at Granite Basin, were making good use of their opportunities.

The man who had ridden away so hurriedly, a moment too soon for Patches to see him, was, without doubt, driving the mother of the calf to a distance that would effectually separate her from her offspring.
But while he was so sure in his own mind, the Cross-Triangle man--as it had so often happened before--had arrived on the scene too late.

He had no positive evidence that the animal just branded was not the lawful property of Nick Cambert.
As Patches stepped from the bushes, Yavapai Joe faced him for a moment in guilty astonishment and fear; then he ran toward his horse.
"Wait a minute, Joe!" called Patches.