ling of astonishment when,
fifteen hundred miles or so from home, a familiar voice calls one's name
in greeting.

"Hello!" Terabon replied, heartily, and then shook hands with a market
hunter he had met for an hour's gossip in the eddy at St. Louis. "Any
luck, Bill? How's Frank?"

"Averaging fine," was the answer. "Frank's up town. Going clear down
after all, eh?"

"Probably."

"Any birds on Yankee Bar?"

"I saw some geese there--hunters stopped in, too. How is the flight?"

"We're near the tail of it; mostly they've all gone down. We're going to
drive for it, and put out our decoys down around Big Island and below."

"Then I'll likely see you down there."

"Sure thing; here's Frank."

Terabon shook hands with the two, introduced Carline, and then the
hunters cast off and steered away down the stream. They had come more
than a thousand miles with the migrating ducks and geese, intercepting
them at resting or feeding places. That touch and go impressed Terabon
as much as anything he had ever experienced.

He went up town with Carline, who found a cotton broker, a timber
merchant, and others who knew him. It was easy to draw a check, have it
cashed, and Carline once more had ready money. Nothing would do but they
must go around to Palura's to see Mendova's great attraction for
travellers.

Palura supplied entertainment and excitement for the whole community,
and this happened to be one of his nights of special effort. Personally,
Palura was in a temper. Captain Dalkard, of the Mendova Police, had been
caught between the Citizens' Committee and Palura's frequenters. There
were 100 citizens in the committee, and Palura's frequenters were
unnamed, but familiar enough in local affairs.

The cotton broker thought it was a good joke, and he explained the whole
situation to Terabon and Carline for their entertainment.

"Dalkard called in Policeman Laddam and told him to stand in front of
Palura's, and tell people to watch out. You see, there's been a lot of
complaints about people being short changed, having their pockets
picked, and getting doped there, and some people think it doesn't do the
town any good. Some think we got to have Palura's for the sake of the
town's business. I'm neutral, but I like to watch the fun. We'll go down
there and look in to-night."

They had dinner, and about 9 o'clock they went around to Palura's. It
was an old market building made over into a pleasure resort, and it
filled 300