wall up to the old Bar C Ranch and another passing up from the south where the Tisdale ranch stands and into the valley through the natural gate at the southernmost end. The Bar C Ranch is placed just where the northern gorge broadens into the gentler expanses of meadowland, and thence the road carries along the course of the stream threading the valley.
When the Spout first was made the stronghold of brand burners and train robbers in exile, Bar C Ranch became a nucleus for the outlaw settlement, and at the Spout's gate the lawless inhabitants posted their defi: "No cattle cutting in this valley. Keep out!" From his aerie Original could see the cluster of ranch buildings away down in the vivid green plush of the valley floor: Four log houses and a corral, all foreshortened into the dimensions of children's toys. Thickly scattered moving dots against the green on both sides of the ribbon of water he knew to be cattle,—stolen cattle carrying on their flanks the brands of a dozen different rightful owners. He estimated at rough guess a full thousand of them and judged there would be more concealed by the screen of pines farther down the valley. Now and again the watcher on the heights
