a tom-fool way
as this? Less than a quart of water, and not so much as a blanket with
which to protect yourself."

"I can do it by goin' to Antelope Spring an' findin' a doctor," Dick
replied. "You see, daddy shot himself in the leg--stove a bone all to
pieces; and mother don't know what to do, so I slid off this mornin'
without tellin' anybody."

"Countin' on footin' it to Antelope Spring?" Parsons asked as if in
surprise.

"Yes; it ain't more'n forty-five miles the way we've reckoned it."

"Where did you start from?"

"Buffalo Meadows."

"And when did you count on makin' that forty-five miles?"

"I allowed to get there before midnight."

"Where's your camp?"

"Well, we haven't got anything you can rightly call a camp; but we're
located in a prairie schooner near by the spring in the valley."

"How many in the party?"

"Daddy, mother, an' Margie."

The two men looked at Dick an instant, and then glanced at each other,
after which Parsons said emphatically,--

"The boy has got grit; but the old man must have been way off to come
through this section of the country in a wagon."

Dick explained how it was they chanced to be travelling, and then,
eager to gain all the information possible, asked,--

"Do you know anything about Antelope Spring?"

"Nothin' good. There's a settlement by that name; but it's a
no-account place."

"I s'pose I'll find a doctor?"

"I reckon they've got somethin' of the kind hangin' 'round. But are
you countin' on draggin' one down to Buffalo Meadows?"

"I don't expect to be so lucky. But mother seemed to have the idea
that if somebody who knew all about it would tell her how to take care
of daddy's wound, she'd get along with such stuff as I could fetch to
help him out in the fever. Say, I don't reckon either of you wants to
buy a good rifle? There ain't a better one on Humboldt River;" and as
he spoke Dick unslung the weapon which hung at his back.

"What's your idea in sellin' the gun? It strikes me, if you're
countin' on pullin' through from Buffalo Meadows to Willow Point,
you'll need it."

"Of course I shall; but it's got to go. You see, daddy's dead broke, an'
I must have money to pay for the doctor's stuff. I don't s'pose you
want it; but if you did, here's a good chance. If you don't buy I reckon
there'll be some one up to Antelope Spring who'll take it off my hands."

"Haven't you got anything else you can put up, instead of lettin' the
rifle go? In this sect