followed northward.

"If he's headin' into the bad lands I'll meet up with him, an' if he's
just skirtin' 'em, our trails'll cross up here a piece," he reasoned as
his horse carried him up the dry ravine at a steady walk. Presently he
slanted into a steep side coulee that led upward to the crest of a long
flat ridge. For a moment he paused as his eyes swept the landscape and
then suddenly a quarter of a mile away a horseman appeared out of
another coulee. He, too, paused and, catching sight of the Texan, dug
in his spurs and came toward him at a run.

The cowboy's brows drew into a puzzled frown as he studied the rapidly
approaching horseman. "Well, I'll be damned!" he grinned, "ain't he
the friendly young spirit! His ma had ought to look after him better'n
that an' teach him some manners. The idea of any one chargin' up to a
stranger that way in the bad lands! One of these days he's a-goin' to
run up again' an abrupt foreshortin' of his reckless young career."
The rider was close now and the Texan recognized a self-important young
jackass who had found work with one of the smaller outfits.

"It's that mouthy young short-horn from the K 2," he muttered,
disgustedly. "Well, he'll sure cut loose an' earful of small talk. He
hates himself, like a peacock." The cowboy pulled up his horse with a
vicious jerk that pinked the foam at the animal's mouth and caused a
little cloud of dust to rise into the air. Then, for a moment, he sat
and stared.

"If you was in such a hell of a hurry," drawled the Texan, "you could
of rode around me. There's room on either side."