between this noon an'
to-morrow mornin', 'cause I'll go across the desert after dark, an' it
ain't likely there'll be another sand-storm."

"Well, look here, sonny, stand right there for a minute, will you,
while I go out? I won't be gone a great while, an' you can finish up
your breakfast."

"But I want to see the doctor as soon as I can, you know."

"That'll be all right. I'll make it in my way to help you along so you
sha'n't be kept in this town a single hour more'n 's necessary."

Having said this, and without waiting to learn whether his young and
early customer was willing to do as he had requested, the proprietor
of the store hurriedly left the building, and Dick had finished his
meal before he returned.

The boy was stowing the remainder of the cheese and crackers into his
pockets when the shopkeeper, accompanied by two men, who looked as if
they might have been hunters or miners, entered.

"Is this the kid?" one of the strangers asked, looking as curiously at
the boy as had the proprietor.

"That's the one; an' the yarn he tells must be pretty nigh true, 'cause
he met Parsons an' Robinson, an' accordin' to his story they bought his
rifle, leavin' it with him till such time as they want to claim it."

The newcomers questioned Dick so closely regarding the journey and its
purpose that he began to fear something was wrong, and asked
nervously,--

"What's the reason I shouldn't have come up here? When a feller's
father is goin' to die if he can't get a doctor afoul of him, it's a
case of hustlin' right sharp."

"An' accordin' to the account you've given, that's about what you've
been doin'," one of the strangers said with an approving nod, which
reassured the boy to such an extent that he answered without
hesitation the further questions which were asked.

When the curiosity of the men had been satisfied, one of those whom
the landlord had brought in, and who was addressed by his companions
as "Bob Mason," said to Dick, as he laid his hand on the boy's
shoulder,--

"We'll take care of you, my bold kid, an' see that you get all your
father needs. If it wasn't that the doctor in this 'ere town is worked
mighty hard, I'd make it my business to send him right down to your
camp. But I reckon, if it's nothin' more'n a bullet through your dad's
leg, he'll pull 'round all right with sich things as you can carry
from here. Now come on, an' we'll find out what the pill-master thinks
of the case."

Dick was