orry for him, and,
besides, he knew how Mr. Parsons and the cowboys would look upon such a
proceeding if it should once get to their ears. And he didn't see any
way to prevent it. If Elam's story was able to travel for two hundred
miles, the idea that he was afraid to face the Red Ghost would travel,
too, and then what would be his prospect of getting employment with Mr.
Parsons? And, besides, there was a chance for him to go "plumb crazy"
while riding the line and seeing that the cattle did not break through.
That was another thing that was against Tom.

"I am afraid I am unlucky, after all," thought he, once more arranging
his bunch of furs. "I am sent out into the mountains to prospect for
gold, when there isn't any gold in sight except what belongs to Elam,
here, and have the promise that when summer comes I shall be given a
chance." Then aloud: "Say, Elam, does a fellow have to ride this line at
first, and before he can call himself a full-fledged cowboy?"

"Sure," said Elam; "he must get used to everything that is done on the
ranch. He must begin at the lowest round of the ladder and work his way
up."

"Well," said Tom to himself, "I just aint a-going to do it. I'll just go
to sleep on it now, and if the thing looks better to me to-morrow than
it does to-night, I'll stick to your heels."

While Tom was thinking about it, he fell asleep. When he awoke the next
morning, it was broad daylight, but he was alone. Elam must have moved
with stealthy footsteps while he was getting breakfast; but there was
everything on the table just as he found it on the previous morning, and
the pictures which Elam had drawn, and which Tom had placed on the wall
so that they could be easily seen, had been taken down and put where he
had seen them the day before.

"I hope to goodness that I will get through with my sleep after a
while," thought Tom, as he proceeded to put on his moccasons. "He has
gone out to gather the rest of his traps, and I am left to decide
whether or not I will go with him. Well, I will go. If that fellow is
not afraid of the ghost, I'm not, either. I know it isn't a ghost, but
he thinks it is, and we'll see who will show the most pluck."

Tom went about his business with alacrity, and in an hour the breakfast
was eaten and the dishes put away. Then he had nothing to do but to cut
a supply of wood for Elam, though he didn't know how it was going to be
of any use to him, seeing that he was going to the mountai