nd of wonderful grass and sage ranges, fine forests, canyons.
We'll go there, some day."

"Then, Pan, you've come home to stay?" she asked, with agitation.

"Yes, Mother," he assured her, squeezing the worn hand that kept
reaching to touch him, as if to see if he were real. Then Bobby
engaged his attention. "Hey, you rascal, let go. That's my gun....
Bad sign, Mother. Bobby's as keen about a gun as I was over a
horse.... There, Bobby, now it's safe to play with.... Mother,
there's a million things to talk about. But we'll let most of them go
for the present. You say Alice is in school. When will she be home?"

"Late this afternoon. Pan," she went on, hesitatingly, "Lucy Blake
lives with us now."

"Yes, I met Lucy outside," replied Pan, drawing a deep breath. "But
first about Dad. I didn't take time to talk much with him. I wanted
to see you.... Is Dad well in health?"

"He's well enough. Really he does two men's work. Worry drags him
down."

"We'll cheer him up. At Littleton I heard a little about Dad's bad
luck. Now you tell me everything."

"There's little to tell," she replied, sadly. "Your father made
foolish deals back in Texas, the last and biggest of which was with
Jard Hardman. There came a bad year--_anno seco_, the Mexicans call
it. Failure of crops left your father ruined. He lost the farm. He
found later that Hardman had cheated him out of his cattle. We
followed Hardman out here. Our neighbors, the Blakes had come ahead of
us. Hardman not only wouldn't be square about the cattle deal but he
knocked your father out again, just as he had another start. In my
mind it was worse than the cattle deal. We bought a homestead from a
man named Sprague. His wife wanted to go home to Missouri. This
homestead had water, good soil, some timber, and an undeveloped mining
claim that turned out well. Then along comes Jard Hardman with claims,
papers, witnesses, and law back of him. He claimed to have gotten
possession of the homestead from the original owner. It was all a lie.
But they put us off.... Then your father tried several things that did
not pan out. Now we're here--and he has to work in the wagon shop to
pay the rent."

"Ah-huh!" replied Pan, relieving his oppressed breast with an effort.
"And now about Lucy. How does it come she's living with you?"

"She had no home, poor girl," replied his mother, hastily. "She came
out here with her father and uncle. Her mother d