CHAPTER VII

PLANS

Several nights later a horseman rode into Montoya's camp. Pete,
getting supper, pretended great indifference until he heard the
horseman's voice. It was young Andy White who had come to visit, as he
had promised. Pete's heart went warm, and he immediately found an
extra tin plate and put more coffee in the pot. He was glad to see
White, but he was not going to let White know how glad. He greeted the
young cowboy in an offhand way, taking the attitude of being so
engrossed with cooking that he could not pay great attention to a stray
horseman just then. But later in the evening, after they had eaten,
the two youths chatted and smoked while Montoya listened and gazed out
across the evening mesa. He understood. Pete was tired of the sheep
and would sooner or later take up with the cattle. That was natural
enough. He liked Pete; really felt as a father toward him. And the
old Mexican, who was skilled in working leather, thought of the
hand-carved holster and belt that he had been working on during his
spare time--a present that he had intended giving Pete when it was
completed. There was still a little work to do on the holster; the
flower pattern in the center was not quite finished. To-morrow he
would finish it--for he wanted to have it ready. If Pete stayed with
him, he would have it--and if Pete left he should have something by
which to remember José de la Crux Montoya--something to remember him
by, and something useful--for even then Montoya realized that if Young