As soon as Scott was dressed in the morning he hurried out to see if he could find any tell-tale tracks of the man who had shot at him the night before. Much to his surprise he found the distinct prints of a horse’s hoofs. He had taken it for granted the night before that it was one of the disgruntled sheep herders, but none of them had horses. Then he thought of the horseman who had tried to steal Jed a few days before. He ran anxiously to the corral and was soon reassured by a cheerful nicker in response to his whistle.

All through breakfast he turned over in his mind the problem of the entrance of the four thousand sheep, the warning shot fired by the mysterious stranger the night before and the prolonged absence of Heth. He could not solve any of them to his entire satisfaction, but he came to several important conclusions. He decided that it would be necessary to watch the sheep herders who were in the forest just as closely now to keep them from running the extras off of the forest before the recount, as he would have to do to keep them from bringing other extras on. He also decided to see Baxter and get his co?peration.

He could ’phone Baxter and get him to meet him half way but one could never tell who might be listening in on those party lines and he wanted to keep his business pretty much to himself for the next few days. And so it was that he saddled Jed and rode away to take a chance on finding Baxter, and he thereby greatly disappointed an impatient and anxious gentleman who had been hanging onto a receiver for over an hour hoping to discover his whereabouts.

Jed was feeling very lively that morning and made the gravel fly along the old ridge trail, across the broad valley and up the long slope to the patrolman’s cabin on the next district. He was fortunate in catching Baxter just as he was starting out for the day.

“Hello, there,” Baxter called gayly, “something doing so soon after sun up?”

“This something started long before the sun got up,” Scott replied. “I’ve started something over my way that looks as though it would keep me pretty busy for a while, and I want to know whether you can help me to carry it through?”

“You bet I can,” Baxter cried eagerly, “I’m pining away for lack of excitement. What is it?”

“Well, to begin at the beginning, somebody beat me to the report on those sheep. I had not much more than gotten home the other day after I left you than the super called me up, said that Dawson had told him that the boys had run a bunch of sheep in on me up the ca?ons in the valley cliffs, and called me down hard for not preventing it.”

“Up the ca?ons,” Baxter exclaimed, “I never examined them, but I never supposed that sheep could get up there.”

“I told him what I had found out—did not mention you—and he recommended a recount. He said Dawson was on his way home, but he would take it up with him as soon as he had had time to get there.

“In the morning I called Dawson. He told me what he had heard and told me to order a recount Monday morning if I was sure of my estimates, but to be careful or I would get stung.”

“I told you Dawson would be all right,” Baxter interrupted.

“Yes,” Scott admitted, “he was pretty good about it. Well, I took some satisfaction in ordering a recount and thought while I was down that way I would have a look at those ca?ons. Not a sheep had been up them, and what’s more, no sheep ever can get up them. There is a clear drop of three hundred feet at the bottom of each one.”

“That’s what I thought,” commented Baxter, “but if they did not come up there where did they come from?”

“That’s what I wanted to know. So I started out right there at the valley cliffs and rode clear around my district looking for sheep tracks. Not a single sheep has come into that district except at the chute.”

Baxter gave a long whistle, “What does Heth say to that?”

“He has not been at the cabin since the count. At least I have not see him.”

“Looks as though he might be able to explain it,” Baxter drawled. “I want to see that man. If he is a sheep man I must have seen him somewhere, but I can’t recall the name at all. What is your plan now? Where do I come in?”

“Well, you see I have it figured out this way. I have ordered them up for a recount Monday and they can’t get away from that. Probably their next move will be to try to prove that the estimates were wrong and that they did not have any extra sheep.”

“Don’t let that worry you old man,” Baxter assured him, “the estimates I made may not be accurate but they are conservative, and I’d bet my last dollar that every band on your district is padded.”

“I am not worrying about your estimates. I am perfectly willing to trust them. What I am afraid of is that they will drive off the extras between now and Monday morning. Then where would I be on the recount?”

“By George,” Baxter exclaimed, slapping his thigh, “I had not thought of that. That is certainly what they will try to do.”

“That is where you come in,” Scott said. “I wanted to see if you would patrol the line here and see that they do not run them over your territory temporarily. They might try that with the idea of bringing them back into my district when the recount is over. They probably figure that I would not dare to order a second recount after they had proved that I was wrong on the first.”

“You bet I will patrol that line,” Baxter exclaimed eagerly, “both for your sake and mine. I don’t want those beggars to slip anything over on me. I have a guard here who is a dandy and the two of us can keep that line tighter than beeswax.”

“Are the herders in your district in with that bunch?” Scott asked absently.

“I should say not,” Baxter replied contemptuously, “they are a different sort. They come from the other side of the mountains, you know, and hate Jed Clark’s gang.”

“That’s what I thought,” Scott said. “How would it do to tell them that you have heard that some of Jed’s herders are going to try to sneak some sheep over here and steal some of their grass?”

“Great,” Baxter exclaimed. “You are some diplomatist, Burton. I’ll tell them and if those fellows do try to come over you want to be around and see the fight.”

“Then I’ll count on you for this end,” Scott explained, “and that will leave me free to watch the chute and keep an eye on them occasionally to see that they do not sneak up over the ridge. That will help me out in great shape. Thanks.”

Scott turned Jed toward home and Baxter rode away to warn his herders to be on the lookout ............