ge brush an' pleasant memories, they could eat up
the ground like a prairie fire, an' they was gentle. I bought a silver
trimmed bridle an' some Mexican didoes, an' then I said good-bye to all
of 'em except the cook--he wasn't there.

I hunted for him an hour; but he had so many peculiar ways 'at I just
let it go at that an' finally gave him up; so I left him a nifty
present an' pulled out with about a thousand yellow ones in my belt an'
the best mount in the West.

I hadn't gone more than two miles before I turned a corner an' came
face to face with ol' Monody. He was settin' on a big bald-faced roan,
an' he had a serious look on his face. "Well, I wondered if you was
goin' to let me go away without sayin' good-bye," sez I, tryin' to talk
light an' easy.

"I'd be apt to," sez he. "Why, I've been peacefuller since you been
here'n ever I was in my life before, an' it ain't likely I'd let you
scoot out an' leave me. I'm goin' along."

Well, what do you think of that! Me startin' up to where I wasn't sure
of a welcome an' takin' such a tow as ol' Monody along with me. I
argued with him for an hour, an' then I got hot an' told him that
merely savin' my life didn't give him no mortgage on me an' that he
couldn't nowise keep up with me, an' by the time he reached the Diamond
Dot, the chances were 'at I'd be on my way back to the Lion Head. He
didn't waste no time in words, just sat sour an' moody, an' every tine
I'd stop he'd growl out, "I don't care where you go or how fast you go
or nothin' at all about it. I'm goin' along, an' I'll catch up with you
sometime."

I sure gave him a chase; I wanted the black hoss to show up well when I
landed, but I sent him along pretty steady an' took extra care of him.
Ol' Monody had picked out the toughest pony at the Lion Head, an' he
had good hands, but he never sighted me till the night I reached the
ranch and was busy wipin' Starlight's legs. "I got some news for ya,"
sez ol' Monody, gettin' down slow from his leg-weary roan. "I'll tell
it to ya while you 're eatin supper,"--an' I was sure glad to see
him--an' glad to eat food again.

CHAPTER THREE

UNDER FIRE

As soon as I finished takin' care o' Starlight, I give Monody's mount a
look-over. The old bald-face was whipcord an' steel; but he looked
purty near ready to own up.

"Monody, confound you," I sez. "What the deuce did you hammer this old
skin over the road like this for?"

"That's my pony," he growled.