fit is sure handin' it to us," complained the
old-timers. "And you're about the only man here who could show 'em."

"No use provin' it to 'em when they know it," Bud said.

The committee retired and consulted among themselves. Bud was talking
with a cattleman when they again accosted him.

"Say, Bud, them Starr boys has cleaned us out on ropin' and racin'. We
trimmed 'em on ridin'. Now that makes two to one, and we're askin' you
as a old-timer if we're goin' to let them fellas ride north a-tellin'
every hay-tosser atween here and Stacey that we're a bunch of jays?"

"Oh, shucks!" was all Bud had to say.

"And that High-Chin Bob says he aims to hang young Adams's scalp on his
belt afore he gits through," asserted a townsman.

"I'll set in the game," said Bud.

And he waddled across the street to his office. In a few minutes he came
back and mingled with the crowd. The Starr boys were pitching dollars at
a mark when Bud and a companion strolled past. High Chin invited Shoop
to join in the game. Shoop declined pleasantly.

"Things is runnin' slow," said a Starr man. "Wish I'd 'a' fetched my
music along. Mebby I could git somebody to sing me to sleep."

Bud laughed. "Have a good time, boys." And he moved on.

"That was one for you--and yore piano," said his companion.

"Mebby so. We'll let that rest. I'm lookin' for a friend of mine." And
Shoop edged along the crowd.

The man that Shoop was looking for was standing alone beneath the shade
of an acacia, watching the crowd. He was a tall, heavy man,
dark-featured, with a silver-gray beard and brown eyes that seemed to
twinkle with amusement even when his lips were grim. The giant sheepman
of the south country was known to every one on account of his great
physique and his immense holdings in land and sheep. Shoop talked with
him for a few minutes. Together they strolled back to the crowd.

The Starr boys were still pitching dollars when Shoop and the sheepman
approached.

"Who's top-hand in this game?" queried Shoop genially.

"High Chin--and at any game you got," said a Starr man.

"Well, now!"

"Any game you got."

Shoop gazed about, saw Lorry, and beckoned to him.

"Here's my candidate," said Shoop. "He kep' out of the ropin' so as to
give you fellas a chance." And he turned to Lorry. "Give him a whirl,"
he said, indicating High Chin. "It's worth a couple of dollars just to
find out how good he is."

High Chin surveyed the circle of faces, poised a