f Colonel Billings now?" Ted asked of Stella,
when they met on the broad lawn in front of the ranch house after they
had seen their rooms.

Stella simply shook her head.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Ted. "That you don't know, or that you
don't care to say?"

"I can't tell you yet, Ted. I like him somehow for his genial ways, and
yet something tells me to beware."

"Well, I'd sooner trust your intuition than my judgment. I'll keep an
eye on him. And--yet, I feel the same as you in a way. But I hate to
distrust any one."

"I know you do, Ted, and that is why you get fooled on some people
sometimes."

"But not on all people all the time?"

"That's it."

"Then what does one's first impression amount to, anyway?"

"Not much, unless they can make good a good first impression."

"I'm not going to worry about him. The other fellows are the ones for
that."

"That's what I think."

"I'm going to ride out over the range, and take a look at the cattle.
Want to go along?"

"Of course I do."

They found their horses in the corral, and after telling Colonel
Billings that they would be back for dinner, departed.

"When you go through the west gate into the big pasture, look out for a
big Hereford bull in there," Colonel Billings called after them.

Ted nodded and waved his hand, and they were off. Colonel Billings
certainly did have a splendid ranch. They rode for miles within the
fences before they came to the west gate.

"Think we better go any farther?" asked Ted, when they had come this
far.

"Yes. Let us go on," replied Stella. "We have plenty of time, and I
would like to see just how big this ranch is."

"Don't forget the red bull," said Ted, as he closed the gate behind
them.

"I've seen many a dangerous bull before," laughed Stella.

"If we find him and he takes after us, keep on the far side of me. I
don't much fancy that pony you're on."

"I don't myself. I wish we had a bunch of Moon Valley ponies here to
ride. I've never seen any that could come up to them."

They were following a trail that led directly into the west. It was a
cattle trail, and Ted's practiced eye told him that it led to water.
Several miles to the west he saw the plain became broken.

"There's water over there," he said.

"That's where we'll find the cattle," answered Stella. "Do you want to
go that far and look at them?"

"I will if you think you can stand it."

Stella looked at him scornfully.

"I guess this