unt their horses, with saddle-bags behind, and
ride away over the wall of the valley and down into the other valleys.
When night fell, they put up at the first convenient farm or village,
and on the morrow they would ride on, without definite plan, merely
continuing to ride on, day after day, until their money gave out and
they were compelled to return. On such trips they would be gone
anywhere from a week to ten days or two weeks, and once they managed a
three weeks' trip.

They even planned ambitiously some day when they were disgracefully
prosperous, to ride all the way up to Daylight's boyhood home in
Eastern Oregon, stopping on the way at Dede's girlhood home in
Siskiyou. And all the joys of anticipation were theirs a thousand
times as they contemplated the detailed delights of this grand
adventure.

One day, stopping to mail a letter at the Glen Ellen post office, they
were hailed by the blacksmith.

"Say, Daylight," he said, "a young fellow named Slosson sends you his
regards. He came through in an auto, on the way to Santa Rosa. He
wanted to know if you didn't live hereabouts, but the crowd with him
was in a hurry. So he sent you his regards and said to tell you he'd
taken your advice and was still going on breaking his own record."

Daylight had long since told Dede of the incident.

"Slosson?" he meditated, "Slosson? That must be the hammer-thrower.
He put my hand down twice, the young scamp." He turned suddenly to
Dede. "Say, it's only twelve miles to Santa Rosa, and the horses are
fresh."

She divined what was in his mind, of which his twinkling eyes and
sheepish, boyish grin gave sufficient advertisement, and she smiled and
nodded acquiescence.

"We'll cut across by Bennett Valley," he said. "It's nearer that way."

There was little difficulty, once in Santa Rosa, of finding Slosson.
He and his party had registered at the Oberlin Hotel, and Daylight
encountered the young hammer-thrower himself in the office.

"Look here, son," Daylight announced, as soon as he had introduced
Dede, "I've come to go you another flutter at that hand game. Here's a
likely place."

Slosson smiled and accepted. The two men faced each other, the elbows
of their right arms on the counter, the hands clasped. Slosson's hand
quickly forced backward and down.

"You're the first man that ever succeeded in doing it," he said. "Let's
try it again."

"Sure," Daylight answered. "And don't forget, son, that you're