an lighted
the lantern and put it on the table. Then the boys came straddling the
bench like cowboys mounting horses. Their faces were red and shiny,
their wet hair was pasted down.

"Wal, if heah ain't ole Pan Smith," announced Blinky, vociferously.
"Gus, take a peep at him. I'll bet he's got hold of a grand hoss.
Nothing else could make him look like thet."

"No. I just got back my girl," replied Pan gaily.

"Gurl! Say, cowboy," began Blinky, in consternation. "You didn't run
foul of thet little Yellow Mine kid?"

"Eat your supper, you hungry-looking galoot," replied Pan. "And you
too, Gus... Because if I begin to shoot off my chin now you'll forget
the grub."

Thus admonished, and with curious glances at Pan, the cowboys took his
advice and attacked the generous meal Juan had set before them. Their
appetites further attested to a strenuous day. Pan did not seem to be
hungry, which fact caused Juan much concern.

"Ahuh! It's the way a fellar gets when he's in love with a gurl,"
observed the keen Blinky. "I been there."

After supper they got together before the stove and rolled their
cigarettes. The cold night wind, with its tang of mountain heights,
made the fire most agreeable. Pan spread his palms to the heat.

"Wal, pard, throw it off your chest before you bust," advised Blinky
shrewdly.

"What kind of a day did you boys have?" countered Pan with a laugh.

"Good an' bad," replied Gus, while Blinky shook his head. "Some hoss
thieves have been runnin' off our stock. We had some fine hosses, not
broke yet. Some we wanted to keep."

"What's the good news?" queried Pan, as Hans hesitated.

"Pan, I'll be doggoned if we didn't see a million broomies today,"
burst out Blinky.

"No. Now, Blink, talk sense," remonstrated Pan. "You mean you saw a
thousand?"

"Wal, shore a million is stretchin' it some," acknowledged the cowboy.
"But ten thousand wouldn't be nothin'. We tracked some of our hosses
twenty miles an' more over heah, farther'n we'd been yet. An' climbed
a high ridge we looked down into the purtiest valley I ever seen.
Twice as big as Hot Springs Valley. Gee, it lay there gray an' green
with hosses as thick as greasewood bushes on the desert. Thet valley
hasn't been drove yet. It's purty rough gettin' up to where you can
see. An' there's lots of hosses closer to town. Thet accounts."

"Blinky, is this talk of yours a leaf out of Lying Juan's book?" asked
Pan incredulo