I reckon your stray-man ain't for to be monkeyed with." But Stafford had told his story and knew that within a very little time Rope would be telling it to the other men.

So without answering he walked toward the ranchhouse.

Before he reached it he saw Leviatt unsaddling at the corral gate.
When Ferguson, with his saddle on his shoulder, on his way to place it on its accustomed peg in the lean-to adjoining the bunkhouse, passed Rope, it was by the merest accident that one of the stirrups caught the cinch buckle of Rope's saddle.

Not observing the tangle, Ferguson continued on his way.

He halted when he felt the stirrup strap drag, turning half around to see what was wrong.