"And then--I'd likely get married, and raise a bunch uh boys to carry
on the business when I got old and fat, and too damn' lazy to ride off
a walk."

Mr. Dill took three minutes to weigh the matter. Then, musingly: "I'm
not sure about the boys. I'm not a marrying man, myself--but just
giving a snap judgment on the other part of it, I will say it
sounds--well, feasible."

CHAPTER IX.

_The "Double-Crank."_

The weeks that followed immediately after bulged big with the things
which Billy must do or have done. For to lie on one's back in the sun
with one's hat pulled low, dreaming lazily and with minute detail the
perfect supervision of a model cow-outfit from its very inception
up through the buying of stock and the building of corrals and the
breaking of horses to the final shipping of great trainloads of sleek
beef, is one thing; to start out in reality to do all that, with
the hundred little annoyances and hindrances which come not to one's
dreaming in the sun, is something quite different.

But with all the perplexities born of his changed condition and the
responsibility it brought him, Billy rejoiced in the work and airily
planned the years to come--years in which he would lead Alexander P.
Dill straight into the ranks of the Western millionaires; years when
the sun of prosperity would stand always straight overhead, himself
a Joshua who would, by his uplifted hands, keep it there with never a
cloud to dim the glory of its light.

For the first time in his life he rode over Texas prairies and lost
thereby some ideals and learned many things, the while he spent
more money than he had ever owned--or ever expected to own--as the
preliminary to making his pet dream come true; truth to tell, it
mattered little to Billy Boyle whether his dream came true for himself
or for another, so long as he himself were the chief magician.

So it was with a light heart that he swung down from the train
at Tower, after his homing flight, and saw Dill, conspicuous as a
flagstaff, waiting for him on the platform, his face puckered into a
smile of welcome and his bony fingers extended ready to grip painfully
the hand of Charming Billy.

"I'm very glad to see you back, William," he greeted earnestly. "I
hope you are well, and that you met with no misfortune while you were
away. I have been very anxious for your return, as I need your advice
upon a matter which seems to me of prime importance. I did not wish
to make a