yuh keep away from that contest
the better--if yuh ask _me_." Jack turned on his heel and followed
Pink.

Andy stared after him moodily, then glanced at the rest. With one
accord they avoided meeting his gaze. "Damn a bunch uh quitters!" he
flared hotly, and left them, to hunt up the Old Man and Chip--one or
both, it did not matter to him.

Pink it was who observed the Old Man writing a check for Andy. He took
it that Andy had called for his time, and when Andy rolled his bed and
stowed it away in the bunk-house, saddled a horse and rode up the
grade toward town, the whole outfit knew for a certainty that Andy had
quit.

Before many hours had passed they, too, saddled and rode away, with
the wagons and the cavvy following after--and they were headed for
Great Falls and the fair there to be held; or, more particularly, the
rough-riding contest to which they had looked forward eagerly and with
much enthusiasm, and which they were now approaching gloomily and in
deep humiliation. Truly, it would be hard to find a situation more
galling to the pride of the Happy Family.

But Andy Green had not called for his time, and he had no intention of
quitting; for Andy was also suffering from that uncomfortable malady
which we call hurt pride, and for it he knew but one remedy--a remedy
which he was impatient to apply. Because of the unfriendly attitude of
the Happy Family, Andy had refused to take them into his confidence,
or to ride with them to the fair. Instead, he had drawn what money was
still placed to his credit on the pay-roll, had taken a horse and his
riding outfit and gone away to Dry Lake, where he intended to take the
train for Great Falls.

In Dry Lake, however, he found that the story of his downfall had
preceded him, thanks to the exultant men of the Diamond G, and that
the tale had not shrunk in the telling. Dry Lake jeered him as openly
as it dared, and part of it--that part which had believed in him--was
quite as unfriendly as was the Happy Family. To a man they took it for
granted that he would withdraw from the contest, and they were not
careful to conceal what they thought. Andy found himself rather left
alone, and he experienced more than once the unpleasant sensation of
having conversation suddenly lag when he came near, and of seeing
groups of men dissolve awkwardly at his approach. Andy, before he had
been in town an hour, was in a mood to do violence.

For that reason he kept his plans rigidly to