walls of
the same, small windows with inside shutters of wood, and home-made
table and chairs and rugs.

"Wal, Jean, do you recollect them shootin'-irons?" inquired the
rancher, pointing above the fireplace. Two guns hung on the spreading
deer antlers there. One was a musket Jean's father had used in the war
of the rebellion and the other was a long, heavy, muzzle-loading
flintlock Kentucky, rifle with which Jean had learned to shoot.

"Reckon I do, dad," replied Jean, and with reverent hands and a rush of
memory he took the old gun down.

"Jean, you shore handle thet old arm some clumsy," said Guy Isbel,
dryly. And Bill added a remark to the effect that perhaps Jean had
been leading a luxurious and tame life back there in Oregon, and then
added, "But I reckon he's packin' that six-shooter like a Texan."

"Say, I fetched a gun or two along with me," replied Jean, jocularly.
"Reckon I near broke my poor mule's back with the load of shells an'
guns. Dad, what was the idea askin' me to pack out an arsenal?"

"Son, shore all shootin' arms an' such are at a premium in the Tonto,"
replied his father. "An' I was givin' you a hunch to come loaded."

His cool, drawling voice seemed to put a damper upon the pleasantries.
Right there Jean sensed the charged atmosphere. His brothers were
bursting with utterance about to break forth, and his father suddenly
wore a look that recalled to Jean critical times of days long past. But
the entrance of the children and the women folk put an end to
confidences. Evidently the youngsters were laboring under subdued
excitement. They preceded their mother, the smallest boy in the lead.
For him this must have been both a dreadful and a wonderful experience,
for he seemed to be pushed forward by his sister and brother and
mother, and driven by yearnings of his own. "There now, Lee. Say,
'Uncle Jean, what did you fetch us?' The lad hesitated for a shy,
frightened look at Jean, and then, gaining something from his scrutiny
of his uncle, he toddled forward and bravely delivered the question of
tremendous importance.

"What did I fetch you, hey?" cried Jean, in delight, as he took the lad
up on his knee. "Wouldn't you like to know? I didn't forget, Lee. I
remembered you all. Oh! the job I had packin' your bundle of
presents.... Now, Lee, make a guess."

"I dess you fetched a dun," replied Lee.

"A dun!--I'll bet you mean a gun," laughed Jean. "Well, you
four-year-old Texas gu