ybe they tried to 'phone the
message to us and could not raise us, and it got laid aside. But I'm
sure glad you're here now."

"So are we!" exclaimed Dick.

"Do you mean to say you have a telephone?" asked Nort, with something
of disappointment in his voice.

"Of course!" laughed Bud. "This is a big ranch, and we couldn't get
along without a 'phone. We're hooked up with other ranches, and we
have a private line of our own from one ranch to the other. We're on
the long distance, too. Oh, we couldn't manage without the wire."

"It doesn't seem like the wild west, if you have a _'phone_,"
complained Nort.

"Oh, you will find it wild enough!" declared Bud. "Didn't you get your
fill on Tartar, and haven't you seen a real man-fight first crack out
of the box?"

"Yes, I had all I wanted on Tartar," confessed Nort with a smile. "I
hope your dad won't think I was too fresh, getting on one of his horses
without having permission," he said.

"Tartar was the one who was fresh," laughed Bud. "But the boys
shouldn't have allowed you on him."

"That was my fault," confessed impulsive Nort. "As I told you, Dick
and I arrived at the station without being expected by you, as it now
turns out. We scouted around, and found one of your wagon outfits
there, and of course the driver was decent enough to bring us in.

"I saw that corral full of ponies first shot, and as I can ride--a
little----" he quickly qualified his statement, "I just hopped aboard
the liveliest pinto in the pack."

"You sure did pick a lively one!" chuckled Bud. "I don't see how you
stayed on as long as you did. Tartar is next door to an outlaw. He's
a bucker and a roller, and they do say he killed a man once. I don't
see why dad keeps him. There aren't two men around here who can ride
him."

"Well, I'm not going to qualify," declared Nort. "But, as I said, when
Dick and I arrived we didn't stop to do any thinking. We hit the
corral, and though some of the men did warn me, I was foolish enough to
try and stick on that wild colt. You came along just in time."

"Yes, there might have been trouble," agreed Bud. "You'll have all the
riding you want if you stick around here. We don't know what walking
means on Diamond X, though dad does talk of getting a flivver. I wish
he would."

"There's lots of level country around here," observed Dick.

"Plenty, and the other kind too," added Bud nodding toward the hills at
their backs. "Well, we s