had been quick to descry the horseman moving through
the brush. McFann had been expecting Talpers, and he was none too
pleased to find that the trader had sent the gossiping cowpuncher in his
stead. Andy, being one of those ingenuous souls who never can catch the
undercurrents of life, rattled on, all unconscious of the effect of
light words, lightly flung.

"You dig the grub and other stuff out o' that pack," said Andy, "while I
hunt an inch or two of shade and cool my brow. When it comes to makin' a
success of hidin' out in the brush, you can beat one of them renegade
steers that we miss every round-up. I guess you ain't heard about the
robbery that's happened in our metropolis of Talpersville, have you?"

The half-breed grunted a negative.

"Of course not, seein' as you ain't gettin' the daily paper out here.
Well, an expert safe-buster rode Bill Talpers's iron treasure-chest to a
frazzle the other night. Took valuable papers that Bill's all fussed up
about, but dropped a wad of bills, big enough to choke one of them
prehistoric bronks that used to romp around in these hills."

McFann looked up scowlingly from his task of estimating the amount of
grub that had been sent.

"Seems to me," went on Andy, "that if I got back my money, I wouldn't
give a durn about papers--not unless they was papers that established my
rights as the long-lost heir of some feller with about twenty million
dollars. That roll had a thousand-dollar bill wrapped around the
outside."

The half-breed straightened up.

"How do you know there was a thousand-dollar bill in that roll?" he
demanded, with an intensity that surprised the cowboy.

"Bill told me so himself. He had took a few snifters, and was feelin'
melancholy over them papers, and I tried to cheer him up by tellin' him
jest what I've told you, that as long as I had my roll back, I wouldn't
care about all the hen-tracks that spoiled nice white paper. He chirked
up a bit at that, and got confidential and told me about this
thousand-dollar bill. They say it ain't the only one he had. The story
is that he sprung one on an Injun the other day in payment for a bunch
o' steers. There must be lots more profit in prunes and shawls and the
other things that Bill handles than most people have been thinkin', with
thousand-dollar bills comin' so easy."

The half-breed was listening intently now. He had ceased his work about
the camp, and was standing, with hands clenched and head thrust for