ng--the one he had
occupied previous to the death of the elder Hollis. There were three
rooms in the building and in the front one were several articles of
furniture and some boxes. One of these boxes Norton opened, taking
therefrom several articles of wearing apparel, consisting of a pair of
corduroy trousers, a pair of leathern chaps, boots, spurs, two woolen
shirts, a blue neckerchief, a broad felt hat, and last, with a grin of
amusement over Hollis's astonished expression, a cartridge belt to which
was attached a holster containing a Colt .45.

"I bought this outfit over at Santa Fe two months ago," he informed
Hollis, who was gravely contemplating the lay-out, "expectin' to wear
them myself some day. But when I got home I found they didn't quite
fit." He surveyed Hollis with a critical eye. "I've been thinkin' ever
since you come that you'd fit pretty snug in them." He raised a
protesting hand as Hollis was about to speak. "I ain't givin' them to
you," he grinned. "But you can't wear no tenderfoot clothes out here.
Some day when we're together an' we've got time you can blow me to
another outfit; I won't hesitate about takin' it." He leaned over and
tapped the butt of the Colt. "You ever handle one of them?" he
questioned.

Hollis nodded. Once during a shooting tournament he had done good work
with a pistol. But Norton laughed at his nod.

"Mebbe we do it a little different out here," he smiled. "You hop into
them duds an' we'll go out into the cottonwood yonder an' try out your
gun." He pointed through the door to a small clump of cottonwoods beyond
the bunkhouse.

He went out and fifteen minutes later Hollis joined him, looking
thoroughly at home in his picturesque rigging. An hour later they
returned to the corral fence, where Norton caught up his pony and
another, saddling the latter for Hollis. He commented briefly upon the
new owner's ability with the six-shooter.

"You use your fists a little better than you use a gun," he remarked
with his peculiar drawl, "but I reckon that on the whole you'll be able
to take care of yourself--after you've had a little practise gettin'
your gun out." He laughed with a grim humor. "More men have been killed
in this country on account of bein' slow on the draw than for any other
reason. Don't never monkey with it unless you intend to use it, an' then
see that you get it out middlin' rapid. That's the recipe," he advised.

The pony that he had selected for Hollis was a