e looked at the clock and saw that it was
only seven.

So he thrust his hands in the pockets of his overalls, and, with his
chair tilted against the wall at a comfortable angle, speculated as to
his chances of success in the dude business.

The more Teeters had thought of Mormon Joe's assertion that, outside of
stock, the chief asset of the country was its climate and its scenery,
the more he had come to believe that Joe's advice to turn the Scissor
outfit into a place for eastern tourists was valuable. It had been done
elsewhere successfully, and there was no dearth of accommodations on the
place, since there was nothing much to the ranch but the buildings, as
Toomey had fenced and broken up only enough land to patent the
homestead.

Although Teeters was now the ostensible owner, in reality the place
belonged to Hughie Disston's father, who had been the heaviest loser in
the cattle company. Hughie had written Teeters that if they recovered
from the reverse, and others that had come to them, they hoped to
re-stock the range that was left to them and he wished to spend at least
a portion of the year there. In the meantime, it was for Teeters to do
what he could with it.

"Dudes" had seemed to be the answer to his problem.

While making up his mind, he had not acted hastily. He had consulted the
spirits, with Mrs. Emmeline Taylor and her ouija board as intermediary.
"Starlight" had thought highly of the undertaking, and Mrs. Taylor,
knowing that Miss Maggie's hope chest was full to overflowing,
encouraged it. There had been a time when bankers, railroad and other
magnates had been in her dreams for her daughter, and a mere rancher
like Teeters was unthinkable, but with the passing of the years she had
modified her ambitions somewhat. So she had said benignly, patting his
shoulder:

"The angels will look after you, as they have after me. Don't be afraid,
Clarence."

It had occurred to Clarence that the not inconsiderable herd of
Herefords Mr. Taylor had left behind him at "Happy Wigwam" might have
had as much to do with Mrs. Taylor's feeling of security as the
guardianship of the angels, but he answered merely, though somewhat
cryptically:

"Even if I lose my money it won't cost me nothin'--I worked for it."

Teeters glanced at the clock, yawned as he saw that the hands pointed to
half past seven, and unhooked his heels from the rung of the chair
preparatory to retiring.

A horse snorted, and the sound of hoo