“Well, I don’t,” said Annersley.  “So I was jest puttin’ what you call bluff on record, case anything happened.”

The sheriff, secretly in league with the cattlemen to crowd Annersley off the range, took occasion to suggest to the T-Bar-T foreman that the old man was getting cold feet—­which was a mistake, for Annersley had simply wished to keep within the law and avoid trouble if possible.  Thus it happened that Annersley brought upon himself the very trouble that he had honorably tried to avoid.  Let the most courageous man even seem to turn and run and how soon his enemies will take up the chase!

But nothing happened that summer, and it was not until the following spring that the T-Bar-T outfit gave any hint of their real intent.  The anonymous letter was a vile screed—­because it was anonymous and also because it threatened, in innuendo, to burn out a homestead held by one man and a boy.

Annersley showed the letter to Pete and helped him spell it out.  Then he explained gravely his own status as a homesteader, the law which allowed him to fence the water, and the labor which had made the land his.  It was typical of Young Pete that when a real hazard threatened he never said much.  In this instance the boy did not know just what to do.  That evening Annersley missed him and called, “What you doin’, pardner?”

From the cabin—­Annersley, as usual, was seated outside, smoking—­came the reply:  “Countin’ my cartridges.”

Annersley knew that the anonymous letter would be followed by some hostile act if he did not vacate the homestead.  He wasted no time worrying as to what might happen—­but he did worry about Young Pete.  If the cattlemen raided his place, it would be impossible to keep that young and ambitious fire-eater out of harm’s way.  So the old man planned to take Pete to Concho the next morning and leave him with the storekeeper until the difficulty should be solved, one way or the other.

This time they did not drive to Concho, but saddled up and rode down the hill trail.  And during the journey Young Pete was unusually silent, wondering just what his pop planned to do.

At the store Annersley privately explained the situation to the storekeeper.  Then he told Young Pete that he would leave him there for a few days as he was “goin’ over north a spell.”

Young Pete studied the old man with bright, blinking eyes that questioned the truth of this statement.  His pop had never lied to him, and although Pete suspected what was in the wind, he had no ground for argument.  Annersley was a trifle surprised that the boy consented to stay without demur.  Annersley might have known that Young Pete’s very silence was significant; but the old man was troubled and only too glad to find his young partner so amenable to his suggestion.  When Annersley left the store Young Pete’s “So-long, pop,” was as casual as sunshine, but his tough little heart was thumping with restrained excitement.  He knew that his pop feared trouble and wished to face it alone.