"nesters," and in response to the twisted
smile of H. J. Owens he grinned amiably.

"Want to go on a bear-hunt with me, Buck?" began H. J. Owens with just
the right tone of comradeship, to win the undivided attention of the
Kid.

"I was goin' to ride fence with Miss Allen," the Kid declined
regretfully. "There ain't any bears got very close, there ain't. I guess
you musta swallered something Andy told you." He looked at H. J. Owens
tolerantly.

"No sir. I never talked to Andy about this." Had he been perfectly
truthful he would have added that he had not talked with Andy about
anything whatever, but he let it go. "This is a bear den I found myself;
There's two little baby cubs, Buck, and I was wondering if you wouldn't
like to go along and get one for a pet. You could learn it to dance and
play soldier, and all kinds of stunts."

The Kid's eyes shone, but he was wary. This man was a nester, so it
would be just at well to be careful "Where 'bouts is it?" he therefore
demanded in a tone of doubt that would have done credit to Happy Jack.

"Oh, down over there in the hills. It's a secret, though, till we get
them out. Some fellows are after them for themselves, Buck. They want
to--skin 'em."

"The mean devils!" condemned the Kid promptly. "I'd take a fall outa
them if I ketched 'em skinning any baby bear cubs while I was around."

H. J. Owens glanced behind him with an uneasiness not altogether
assumed.

"Let's go down into this next gully to talk it over, Buck," he suggested
with an air of secretiveness that fired the Kid's imagination. "They
started out to follow me, and I don't want 'em to see me talking to you,
you know."

The Kid went with him unsuspectingly. In all the six years of his life,
no man had ever offered him injury. Fear had not yet become associated
with those who spoke him fair. Nesters he did not consider friends
because they were not friends with his bunch. Personally he did not know
anything about enemies. This man was a nester--but he called him Buck,
and he talked very nice and friendly, and he said he knew where there
were some little baby bear cubs. The Kid had never before realized how
much he wanted a bear cub for a pet. So do our wants grow to meet our
opportunities.

H. J. Owens led the way into a shallow draw between two low hills,
glancing often behind him and around him until they were shielded by the
higher ground. He was careful to keep where the grass was thickest and
woul