* * * *
The snows did not come in time to save most of Pencarrow’s cattle from the raiders. He had bought fifteen hundred head from Drill, and these five, two- and three-year-old steers went with the rest. While Wade and his cowboys trailed and fought one outfit of rustlers, two or three larger ones made successive raids, leaving only a few hundred cows and calves on the range.
When the winter finally did send the rustlers to their burrows in the brakes, Pencarrow was again on the verge of ruin.
* * * *
A thin skim of snow lay on the range, except on south exposures where the sun struck warm. The few cows and calves, melancholy reminders of Pencarrow’s once big herd, concentrated on those grassy spots. The high ridges and plateaus shone glistening white. Cold wind swept down from the h
