here!" cried Toby, with a delighted laugh.

Sandy grinned into the loafer's angry face, while Minky nodded an
unsmiling approval.

"Gee, you beat hell for nerve!" cried Sunny.

"Guess I ken do better. I ken beat you," retorted Bill contemptuously.
"You'll do it, or--you ken start gettin' out now," he added.

Sunny realized his position by the expression of the other men's
faces, and, quickly resuming his good-humored plaint, he acquiesced
with a grumble.

"Gee! but it's a tough world," he complained, dropping back on to his
bench hurriedly, lest fresh demands should be made upon him, and just
in time to witness Scipio leading a beautiful black mare up to the
tying-post.

The men in the store turned out at the sound of horse's hoofs, and
stood gathered on the veranda. Bill's keen eyes were fixed regretfully
on the shining sides of his favorite animal. She was a picture of lean
muscle and bone, with a beautiful small head, and ears that looked
little larger than well-polished mussel-shells. She stood pawing the
ground impatiently while Scipio tied her to the post, and she nuzzled
his ribs playfully with her twitching lips in the most friendly
spirit. But Bill's eyes were suddenly arrested by the manner in which
she was saddled and bridled. Poor Scipio had blundered in a hopeless
fashion.

Other eyes, too, had seen the blunder, and Sandy Joyce suddenly
pointed.

"Mackinaw! Jest get that," he cried.

"By Gee!" laughed Sunny.

But Wild Bill cut them all short in a surprising manner.

"Say, guess you fellers ain't never made no sort o' mistakes--any o'
you. You're laffin' a heap. Quit it, or--" His eyes flashed
dangerously. Then, as the men became silent, he darted across to where
Scipio was still fumbling with the neck rope.

The little man's attempt at saddling, under any other circumstances,
would have brought forth Bill's most scathing contempt. The saddle was
set awry upon an ill-folded blanket. It was so far back from the
mare's withers that the twisted double cinchas were somewhere under
her belly, instead of her girth. Then the bit was reversed in her
mouth, and the curb-strap was hanging loose.

Bill came to his rescue in his own peculiar way.

"Say, Zip," he cried in a voice that nothing could soften, "I don't
guess you altered them stirrups to fit you. I'll jest fix 'em." And
the little man stood humbly by while he set to work. He quickly
unfastened the cinchas, and set the blanket straight. Then