Perplexed and indignant, Clarence again closely questioned her as to the personnel of the trespassing party who had been seen once or twice since passing over the field.  He had at last elicited enough information to identify one of them as Gilroy, the leader of the party that had invaded Robles rancho.  His cheek flushed.  Even if they had wished to take a theatrical and momentary revenge on Hooker for the passing treachery to them which they had just discovered, although such retaliation was only transitory, and they could not hold the land, it was an insult to Clarence himself, whose tenant Jim was, and subversive of all their legally acquired rights.  He would confront this Gilroy at once; his half-wild encampment was only a few miles away, just over the boundaries of the Robles estate.  Without stating his intention, he took leave of the Hopkins family with the cheerful assurance that he would probably return with some news of Hooker, and rode away.

The trail became more indistinct and unfrequented as it diverged from the main road, and presently lost itself in the slope towards the east.  The horizon grew larger:  there were faint bluish lines upon it which he knew were distant mountains; beyond this a still fainter white line—­the Sierran snows.  Presently he intersected a trail running south, and remarked that it crossed the highway behind him, where he had once met the two mysterious horsemen.  They had evidently reached the terrace through the wild oats by that trail.  A little farther on were a few groups of sheds and canvas tents in a bare and open space, with scattered cattle and horsemen, exactly like an encampment, or the gathering of a country fair.  As Clarence rode down towards them he could see that his approach was instantly observed, and that a simultaneous movement was made as if to anticipate him.  For the first time he realized the possible consequences of his visit, single-handed, but it was too late to retrace his steps.  With a glance at his holster, he rode boldly forward to the nearest shed.  A dozen men hovered near him, but something in his quiet, determined manner held them aloof.  Gilroy was on the threshold in his shirtsleeves.  A single look showed him that Clarence was alone, and with a careless gesture of his hand he warned away his own followers.

“You’ve got a sort of easy way of droppin’ in whar you ain’t invited, Brant,” he said with a grim smile, which was not, however, without a certain air of approval.  “Got it from your father, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t believe he ever thought it necessary to warn twenty men of the approach of one,” replied Clarence, in the same tone.  “I had no time to stand on ceremony, for I have just come from Hooker’s quarter section at Fair Plains.”

Gilroy smiled again, and gazed abstractedly at the sky.