of such matters, my dear,' he chided her.
'Mind you, I am not admitting that there is any ground for such a
suspicion as you express.'

'But if there were ground for it?'

'Is there any reason why a pretty woman should not fall in love?' he
asked her stiffly. 'Further, is your father such a man that no woman
could care for him?' He stalked away.

Helen gasped after him and was speechless.

In due course of time Howard recalled that there was a man named
Roberts, a teamster in Sanchia's Town; and that on the Desert Valley
ranch there were mules which should be sold; and that, though there was
a golden paradise here in Bear Valley, there remained a workaday world
outside the charmed confines where time was of the essence. He made
Helen understand that if he were to make good in his acquisition of the
cattle range he must be down there among his men and his herds during
every working hour of the day, but that the nights were his own. He
was to come up every night that it was possible. She was to guard her
father from Sanchia during the days; he was to seek to be on hand if
ever the golden news broke again; they two were to check the
adventuress' move. And Helen was to keep the spurs and bridle; she was
to take Danny not as a loan but as a gift, of which only they were to
know; she was to induce her father to ride down to the lower valley to
watch the round-up. Then, lingeringly and with many a backward look,
Alan Howard went on his way.

He found his man and, while Howard sat sideways in the saddle and
Roberts whittled at a stick, they drove their bargain. The mules were
sold for two thousand dollars, if they were as Roberts remembered them
and as Howard represented them; Roberts would ride down the next day
for them and would pay six hundred dollars as the first payment and
thereafter not less than two hundred a month. Howard was satisfied.
He would have a little more cash for running expenses or for the
purchase of more stock if he could find another chance like that when
he had bought the calves from Tony Vaca in French Valley.

The week rolled by, bursting with details requiring quick attention.
Danny was found, roped, saddled and bridled. Longstreet rode him,
delighting in the pony's high spirits, more delighted to see how he
'came around.' Gentled sufficiently and reminded that he was no longer
a free agent to fling up his heels at the wind and race recklessly
where he would, but that he was man's