which he could not determine--probably his increased
respect for it. So he trotted along, amiably disposed toward all the
world, pleasantly anticipatory of the immediate future, ears and eyes
alert and straining toward all things. On his left the river gurgled
softly in the desert stillness--a stillness sharply broken. From afar
off came a strange call, the long-drawn howl of a coyote. It was not
alone. Instantly from a point dead ahead rose another, grooving into the
echo of the first in a staccato yelp. Then the first opened up with a
choking whine that lifted steadily into an ecstatic mating-call, and Pat
saw a black something, blacker even than the night, leap against the
far, faint skyline, dangle seemingly a trembling moment, then flash from
view across the desert.

Which was but one of the many incidents that served to hold his interest
and increase his alertness as he fox-trotted along the road. Nor was one
of them without its informing value. For this was his first night
journey, and what he saw now would remain with him vividly, helping him
to become as successful on night trails as he was now by day.

Something else came to him out of the darkness. It was off to his
distant right and well back from the river. It was a tiny gleam of
light, shining out of the density of the desert. He watched it with
studied interest. It glowed like a cat's eye, and, fascinated, quietly
speculative, he kept his eyes upon it until, as he turned a bend in the
trail, he saw another light flash into view close beside the first, and
equal to it in brilliancy. Suddenly, watching these lights, his interest
leaped higher. This was his destination. He instinctively knew it. And
presently he was certain of it, for his master, urging him to the right,
now sent him along a narrow path that led straight toward the lights.

Within a very few moments Pat found himself before a hulk of an adobe.
It was a long, rambling structure, somehow forbidding, and he blinked as
he stared with faint apprehension at the lamplight streaming out of two
windows. Directly the man dismounted and, making the reins fast to a
post, walked toward the house. For a moment Pat saw his tall figure
silhouetted in the doorway, to the accompaniment of a quiet chorus of
greetings from within, then he saw the door close upon him, and
immediately afterward a hand appear at the windows and draw down the
shades. And now he felt a great loneliness creep over him, slowly at
fi