e clothes, and
some grub; and I want to borry that pinto I seen picketed out in the
hollow, down there. Now, will yuh let up that yelling and act white,
or must I pound some p'liteness into yuh? Say!"

"By damn, Ay tank yo' vas got soom crazy," apologized the herder
humbly, sanity growing in his pale blue eyes. "Ay tank--"

"Oh, I don't give a cuss what you _tank_," Happy Jack cut in. "I ain't
had anything to eat sence yesterday forenoon, and I ain't had any
clothes on sence yesterday, either. Send them darn dogs back to watch
your sheep, and get busy with breakfast! I've got a lot to do, t'-day.
I've got to round up my horse and get my clothes that's tied to the
saddle, and get t' where I'm going. Get up, darn yuh! I ain't going t'
eat yuh--not unless you're too slow with that grub."

The herder was submissive and placating, and permitted Happy Jack to
appropriate the conventional garb of a male human, the while coffee
and bacon were maddening his hunger with their tantalizing odor. He
seemed much more at ease, once he saw that Happy Jack, properly
clothed, was not particularly fearsome to look upon, and talked
volubly while he got out bread and stewed prunes and boiled beans for
the thrice-unexpected guest.

Happy Jack, clothed and fed, became himself again and prophesied
gloomily: "The chances is, that horse uh mine'll be forty miles away
and still going, by this time; but soon as I can round him up, I'll
bring your pinto back. Yuh needn't t' worry none; I guess I got all
the sense I've ever had."

Once more astride a horse--albeit the pinto pony of a
sheepherder--Happy Jack felt abundantly able to cope with the
situation. He made a detour that put him far from where the three he
most dreaded to meet were apt to be, and struck out at the pinto's
best pace for the river at the point where he had crossed so
disastrously the day before.

Having a good memory for directions and localities, he easily found
the place of unhappy memory; and taking up Stranger's trail through
the sand from there, he got the general direction of his flight and
followed vengefully after; rode for an hour up a long, grassy coulee,
and came suddenly upon the fugitive feeding quietly beside a spring.
The bundle of clothing was still tied firmly to the saddle, and at
sight of it the face of Happy Jack relaxed somewhat from its gloom.

When Happy rode up and cast a loop over his head Stranger nickered a
bit, as if he did not much enjoy fre