“I don’t mean anything—­yet,” replied Mr. Melton slowly.  “I don’t want to do any one an injustice, and I haven’t a particle of evidence that Pedro isn’t as innocent as a new-born babe.  He’s a good rider and a good herder, and we’ve never had any fault to find with the way he does his work.  But you know as well as I do that we didn’t know a thing about him when he came riding along looking for a job.  We were short-handed then and needed men desperately, and so we hired him, but I made up my mind that as soon as things got slack, and we had to lay some of the men off, he’d be the first to go.  There may be good Indians and good Mexicans, and it may be my misfortune that I never met them.  But Pedro is a half-breed—­half Mexican and half Indian—­and I’ve always noticed that that kind is apt to have the worst qualities of both.  I’ve never liked him, but I’ve set that down to prejudice, and always tried to treat him exactly like the rest of the men.  Now, as I said, I may be entirely wrong, but somehow I’ve got the notion in my head that those rustlers knew just who was to be riding herd on that section when they made their raid.  But don’t breathe a word of this to any one till we’ve got something more to go on.  Keep your eyes wide open and see too if you can pump anything more out of Chip about that steer.  I’ll think it all over, and after dinner we’ll get together and fix on some plan to get after those infernal scoundrels.”

Sandy took his departure, and Mr. Melton was left alone with his problem.  That it was a perplexing one was evident from his knitted brows and air of intense concentration.

With the exception of Mrs. Melton and Bert, he was alone in the house.  The other boys were absent, having started out soon after breakfast.  Dick and Tom had gone off with Buck to have a little experience in “riding herd.”  Bert, who had intended to go with them, had found it necessary to go to town to make some purchases.  He had just finished his preparations and brought his horse to the door, in order to say good-by to his host before starting.  At the first glance he saw that something had disturbed Mr. Melton’s usual composure.

To his anxious inquiry as to whether anything was wrong, the latter responded by telling him the news Sandy had brought, carefully refraining, however, from mentioning his suspicions about the half-breed.

“Of course, it’s nothing very important in one way of looking at it,” he said.  “The mere fact that I’ve lost a few head of cattle doesn’t worry me at all.  They might take a thousand and I wouldn’t miss them.  But those rustlers are the rattlesnakes of the West, and no man steals from me and gets away with it until I’m weaker and older than I am now.  I suppose the fact is that my pride is hurt more than anything else,” he smiled grimly.  “I’d rather flattered myself that I’d built up a reputation in these parts that would keep those vermin at a distance.  It galls me horribly that they should have the nerve to come up and rustle my stock right under my very nose.  But if they think that they are going to get by with it, they have another guess coming,” and into the eyes of the old warhorse came the look that Bert had learned to know in Mexico.