was better than a circus," laughed Dick. "I never saw two more
surprised faces in my life."

"I either," said Tom. "I guess they must have thought Bert was champion
of some hick village before they consulted us."

"I could see that was their idea when I offered to run," grinned Bert;
"that's why I referred them to you."

"The boys place a lot of importance on the foot race," said Mr. Melton;
"in the other events they're chiefly competing against each other, but in
that they meet the townspeople on common ground, and it means a lot to
them to win. And if the winner comes from their own particular ranch,
that makes the victory all the more sweet."

"Well," remarked Bert, "if I do run in that race, as it seems very likely
I shall, I'll certainly do my best to win for the ranch. I don't suppose
there'll be much competition outside of this 'ringer,' anyway."

"No, I don't think there'll be much competition for _you_," smiled Mr.
Melton, "but just the same there'll be some pretty fair runners in that
race, and they may make you hustle a little at that."

"I hope they do," said Bert, "but the only thing I'm going in the race
for is to show up that crooked runner. It's such fellows as he that give
the sport a bad name. I'll do everything in my power to discourage it
whenever I get the chance."

"That's the talk," encouraged Tom, "go to it, old boy, and show him up.
Besides, it will put you in more solid than ever with the cowboys here.
They've got a pretty good idea of you already, I imagine, and this will
cinch matters."

"It will give me an awful black eye if I should happen to get licked,"
laughed Bert; "you never seem to think of that side of it."

"No, we'll have to admit that we don't take that into consideration
much," said Dick; "you seem to have such an inveterate habit of winning
that we rather take it as a matter of course."

"I don't take it as a matter of course, though, not by a long sight,"
said Bert; "many a fellow's got tripped up by being over-confident, and
not waking up until it was too late. I go into anything like that with
the idea that if I don't do my very best I _may_ lose. And then, if a
person does lose a race, that excuse of 'over-confidence' doesn't go a
long way, I've noticed."

"No, it's better to be on the safe side, I guess," admitted Dick. "But
are you going to train at all for this race?"

"Nothing to speak of," answered Bert. "The life we're living these days
keeps a fellow abo