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“No. I’ve been putting up here along with Dick and Hattie.”

“Where are the cowboys?”

“All gone—but me. They were scared off by the barons—scared off or bought off, I don’t know which. When I failed to get back yesterday, maybe Dick and Hattie thought I’d been bought off, too.”

“No, they didn’t. I’ve only known you for a few hours, Dunbar, but even that short acquaintance has convinced me that you’ve no yellow streak in your make-up. Perry and his daughter have known you a good deal longer than I have, and they’d never think you had turned traitor to their interests. How many cattle have you and Perry?”

“Perry came in here with a thousand head, but there’s no telling how many of our brand we could round up now. The herd has been rustled right and left.”

The scout was thoughtful for a few moments.

“What sort of a man is Perry?” he asked finally.

“The clear quill and as straight as a die.”

“Fighter?”

“As game a fighter as you can find. If he hadn’t been he’d have left the Brazos a month ago. But he’s too honest, too finely strung to handle a gang like the cattle barons, even if he had a large enough force behind him. Perry is an educated man, Buffalo Bill.”