He was too
soused to know his name, and he didn't need no urgin' to tumble into his
bunk and sleep it off. He's got an awful head this mornin', too, but when
he heard Buck talkin' at breakfast about what he seen, he called to mind
somethin' that one of his pals that works on the Bar Y Ranch off toward
the east told him about, when he was a boozin' with him last night.
"It seems that this feller was comin' back from a round-up to his ranch
the other day, and he saw the body of a steer, a little off to the right.
He rode over to look at it, and, lookin' close, saw that the first brand
had been burned over by another one. Of course, he knows most of the
brands in this section of the country, and after he studied it over a
spell, he knew for sure that the first brand was ours. Knew it by the
little curlicue in the top corner of the O. The second brand had been put
on kinder careless, in a hurry, as if the fellers that did it wanted to
mosey along right quick. Then, too, he could see that the steer had died
from bein' overdriven."
Mr. Melton rose and paced the floor in growing anger as he pondered the
situation.
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