lie, who hurried forward.

"He's scared her out of her wits," declared Miss Mercy, glaring at him.

"Me?"

"You! You're a careless driver. I don't believe you understand horses,
and I shan't ride any further with you."

"Red" jammed the whip in its socket and wrapped the lines around it.
Springing over the wheel he stood by the roadside and declared
defiantly:

"I'm quittin'. Hate to leave you in a pinch, Wallie, but I take sass
from no female. I'd ruther herd sheep than wrangle dudes, anyhow. I
tried to be entertainin', and this is the thanks I git fer it."

"Nobody asked you to talk," Miss Mercy snapped at him.

Wallie succeeded in pacifying "Red" finally and suggested that he and
Pinkey exchange places. Pinkey consented reluctantly, and "Red" climbed
upon the seat of the bed-wagon with a dark look at the "female" who had
questioned his knowledge of horses, while he mumbled something about
"fixin' her."

By ten-thirty food was the chief topic of conversation, and everyone was
keeping an eye out for Hicks and the "grub-wagon." At eleven the
hilarity had simmered to monosyllables, and old Mr. Penrose, who always
became incredibly cross when he was hungry, rode along with his face
screwed up like a bad youngster that is being carried out of church for
a spanking in the vestibule.

"I'm so weak I can scarcely sit in the saddle!" Mrs. J. Harry Stott
snapped at Wallie as if she held him responsible.

"I'm simply ravenous--starving!" declared Mrs. Budlong. She also looked
at him accusingly.

By eleven-thirty they were all complaining bitterly that the cook had
been allowed to get so far ahead that they should all perish of hunger
before they could overtake him. Mr. Stott galloped ahead as if he were
pursued by hostile Indians to see if he could see Hicks, and galloped
back again to say that he could not.

At twelve the animals in a zoo just before feeding time had "nothing on"
The Happy Family when it came to ferocity, but they brightened
immediately as they finally caught a glimpse of Hicks' camp-fire, and
grew almost cheerful when they saw him cutting bread on the lowered
tail-board of the wagon, where the lunch was waiting for them.

The spot he had selected could not truthfully be called ideal, viewed
from any angle, since there was no shade and the sand, sizzling hot,
reflected the glare of the mid-day sun as painfully as a mirror. None,
however, had the temerity to offer any criticism to Mr. Hicks
pers