“Yes, I noticed that.  But all Yaquis have a wild look.  Dick, if I’m not mistaken, this fellow was a chief.  It was a waste of strength, a needless risk for you to save him, pack him back here.  But, damn the whole Greaser outfit generally, I’m glad you did!”

Gale remembered then to speak of his concern for Ladd.

“Laddy didn’t go out to meet you,” replied Belding.  “I knew you were due in any day, and, as there’s been trouble between here and Casita, I sent him that way.  Since you’ve been out our friend Carter lost a bunch of horses and a few steers.  Did you get a good look at the horses those raiders had at Papago Well?”

Dick had learned, since he had become a ranger, to see everything with keen, sure, photographic eye; and, being put to the test so often required of him, he described the horses as a dark-colored drove, mostly bays and blacks, with one spotted sorrel.

“Some of Carter’s—­sure as you’re born!” exclaimed Belding.  “His bunch has been split up, divided among several bands of raiders.  He has a grass ranch up here in Three Mile Arroyo.  It’s a good long ride in U. S. territory from the border.”

“Those horses I saw will go home, don’t you think?” asked Dick.

“Sure.  They can’t be caught or stopped.”

“Well, what shall I do now?”

“Stay here and rest,” bluntly replied Belding.  “You need it.  Let the women fuss over you—­doctor you a little.  When Jim gets back from Sonoyta I’ll know more about what we ought to do.  By Lord! it seems our job now isn’t keeping Japs and Chinks out of the U. S. It’s keeping our property from going into Mexico.”

“Are there any letters for me?” asked Gale.

“Letters!  Say, my boy, it’d take something pretty important to get me or any man here back Casita way.  If the town is safe these days the road isn’t.  It’s a month now since any one went to Casita.”

Gale had received several letters from his sister Elsie, the last of which he had not answered.  There had not been much opportunity for writing on his infrequent returns to Forlorn River; and, besides, Elsie had written that her father had stormed over what he considered Dick’s falling into wild and evil ways.

“Time flies,” said Dick.  “George Thorne will be free before long, and he’ll be coming out.  I wonder if he’ll stay here or try to take Mercedes away?”

“Well, he’ll stay right here in Forlorn River, if I have any say,” replied Belding.  “I’d like to know how he’d ever get that Spanish girl out of the country now, with all the trails overrun by rebels and raiders.  It’d be hard to disguise her.  Say, Dick, maybe we can get Thorne to stay here.  You know, since you’ve discovered the possibility of a big water supply, I’ve had dreams of a future for Forlorn River....If only this war was over!  Dick, that’s what it is—­war—­scattered war along the northern border of Mexico from gulf to gulf.  What if it isn’t our war?  We’re on the fringe.  No, we can’t develop Forlorn River until there’s peace.”