Her eyes and ears were ever alert; she
tossed her head and snorted when a deer broke cover or a jack-
rabbit scuttled out of her path; she showed a friendly interest in
the awkward calves which stood and eyed her with such amazement
and then galloped stiffly off with tails high arched.
Law had many times undertaken to break Bessie Belle of that habit
of flinging her head high at sudden sounds, but she was nervous
and inquisitive, and this was the one thing upon which she
maintained a feminine obstinacy.
On the second evening the Ranger rode home through a drizzle that
had materialized after a long, threatening afternoon and now
promised to become a real rain. Ricardo met him at the door to
say:
"You bring good fortune with you, senor, for the land is thirsty.
To-morrow, if this rain holds, we shall ride together--you, Pedro,
and I. Those thieves do their stealing when they leave no tracks."
Raoul, the younger son, volunteered to go in place of his father,
but Ricardo would not hear of it.
"Am I so old that I must lie abed?" he cried. "No! We three shall
ride the fences, and if we encounter a cut wire--diablo!--we shall
have a story to tell, eh?"
The sky was leaden, the rain still fell in the morning when Dave
and his two companions set out.
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