took her father's old red morocco wallet from the
bureau drawer and gave Lance money to pay for the things they would
need. Or if he would just hand the list to the Kennedys, she told him,
they would be glad to attend to everything and save him the bother.
They would come out at once, and perhaps Mrs. Smith would come. She
thanked him civilly for the trouble he had already taken and added a
message of thanks for Belle. She thanked him for the use of the horse
and for attending to the schoolhouse matter for her. She was so
extremely thankful that Lance exploded in one two-word oath when he
rode away. Whereupon the doctor, who knew nothing of Lance's thoughts,
looked at him in astonishment.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

LANCE TRAILS A MYSTERY

Lance, rising at what he considered an early hour--five in the morning
may well be considered early,--went whistling down to the corral to
see what plans were on for the day. It was the day of Aleck Douglas's
funeral, but the Devil's Tooth outfit would be represented only by a
wreath of white carnations which Belle had ordered sent up from
Pocatello. White carnations and Aleck Douglas did not seem to
harmonize, but neither did the Devil's Tooth and Aleck Douglas, and
the white wreath would be much less conspicuous and far more
acceptable than the Lorrigans, Lance was thinking.

He paused at the bunk-house and looked in. The place was deserted. He
walked through it to the kitchen where the boys ate--the chuck-house,
they called it--and found nothing to indicate that a meal had been
eaten there lately. He went out and down to the stable, where Sam
Pretty Cow was just finishing his stall cleaning. Shorty, who now had
a permanently lame leg from falling under his horse up in the Lava
Beds a year ago, was limping across the first corral with two full
milk buckets in his hands.

"Say, what time does this ranch get up, for heck sake?" Lance inquired
of Sam Pretty Cow, stepping aside so that Sam might carry in a forkful
of fresh hay.

"I dunno--long time ago." Sam Pretty Cow turned the hay sidewise and
went in to stuff his fragrant burden into the manger.

"I was going out with the boys, if they went anywhere. Where have they
all headed for, Sam? I could overtake them, maybe."

Sam Pretty Cow, returning to the doorway, shifted a quid of tobacco
from one cheek to the other and grinned.

"I dunno, me," he responded amiably.

"You don't _know?_ Didn't dad say anything? Didn't the b