Before to-day, I sure wanted to get him; now, Lou, I'm
a-going to get him, an' get him alive, if it takes all my natural
days. I think I kin do it alone, but I know I kin do it with you," and
deep in Kellyan's eyes there glowed a little spark of something not
yet rightly named.
They were camped in the hills, being no longer welcome at the ranch;
the ranchers thought their price too high. Some even decided that the
Monarch, being a terror to sheep, was not an undesirable neighbor. The
cattle bounty was withdrawn, but the newspaper bounty was not.
"I want you to bring in that Bear," was the brief but pregnant message
from the rich newsman when he heard of the fight with the riders.
"How are you going about it, Lan?"
Every bridge has its rotten plank, every fence its flimsy rail, every
great one his weakness, and Kellyan, as he pondered, knew how mad it
was to meet this one of brawn with mere brute force.
"Steel traps are no good; he smashes them. Lariats won't do, and he
knows all about log traps. But I have a scheme. First, we must follow
him up and learn his range. I reckon that'll take three months."
So the two kept on. They took up that Bear-trail next day; they found
the lariats chewed off. They followed day after day. They learned what
they could from rancher and sheepherder, and much more was told them
than they could believe.
Three months, Lan said, but it took six months to carry out his plan;
meanwhile Monarch killed and killed.
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