nd Miguel
appeared at the last moment in his working clothes, even Weary, the
sunny-hearted, had an unmistakable curl of his lip after the first
glance.

Miguel wore the hatband, the crimson kerchief tied loosely with the
point draped over his chest, the stamped leather cuffs and the tan boots
with the highest heels ever built by the cobbler craft. Also, the lower
half of him was incased in chaps the like of which had never before been
brought into Flying U coulee. Black Angora chaps they were; long-haired,
crinkly to the very hide, with three white, diamond-shaped patches
running down each leg of them, and with the leather waistband stamped
elaborately to match the cuffs. The bands of his spurs were two inches
wide and inlaid to the edge with beaten silver, and each concho was
engraved to represent a large, wild rose, with a golden center. A dollar
laid upon the rowels would have left a fringe of prongs all around.

He bent over his sacked riding outfit, and undid it, revealing a
wonderful saddle of stamped leather inlaid on skirt and cantle with
more beaten silver. He straightened the skirts, carefully ignoring the
glances thrown in his direction, and swore softly to himself when he
discovered where the leather had been scratched through the canvas
wrappings and the end of the silver scroll ripped up. He drew out his
bridle and shook it into shape, and the silver mountings and the reins
of braided leather with horsehair tassels made Happy Jack's eyes greedy
with desire. His blanket was a scarlet Navajo, and his rope a rawhide
lariat.

Altogether, his splendor when he was mounted so disturbed the fine
mental poise of the Happy Family that they left him jingling richly
off by himself, while they rode closely grouped and discussed him
acrimoniously.

"By gosh, a man might do worse than locate that Native Son for a silver
mine," Cal began, eyeing the interloper scornfully. "It's plumb wicked
to ride around with all that wealth and fussy stuff. He must 'a' robbed
a bank and put the money all into a riding outfit."

"By golly, he looks to me like a pair uh trays when he comes bow-leggin'
along with them white diamonds on his legs," Slim stated solemnly.

"And I'll gamble that's a spot higher than he stacks up in the cow
game," Pink observed with the pessimism which matrimony had given him.
"You mind him asking about bad horses, last night? That Lizzie-boy never
saw a bad horse; they don't grow 'em where he come from.