n, a boy and a girl. We call the boy
Curly. He was down at the camp fishing with me."

She saw the truth then--knew in a flash that the man beside her had run
the risk of prison to save his friend. And her heart went out to him in
such a rush of feeling that she had to turn her face away.

"You paid back the debt to the son that your father owed his. Oh, I'm
glad--so glad."

"Guessed it, have you?"

"Your friend was the thief."

"He took the money, but he's no thief--not in his heart. In England only
a criminal would do such a thing, but it's different here. A hold-up may
be a decent fellow gone wrong through drink and bad company. That's how
it was this time. My friend is a range rider. His heart is as open and
clean as the plains. But he's young yet--just turned twenty--and he's
easily led. This thing was sprung on him by an older man with whom he
had been drinking. Before they were sober he and Mosby had taken the
money."

"I am sorry," the girl said, almost under her breath.

There was still some hint of the child in the naive nobility of her
youth. Joyce Seldon would have had no doubts about what to think of this
alien society where an honest man could be a thief and his friend stand
ready to excuse him. Moya found it fresh and stimulating.

He explained more fully. "Colter by chance got a line on what the kid
and Mosby were planning to pull off. Knowing I had some influence with
Curly, he came straight to me. That was just after the finals in the
riding."

"I remember seeing him with you. We all thought you should have come up
for a few words with us."

"I intended to, but there wasn't any time. We hurried out to find Curly.
Well, we were too late. Our horses were gone by the time we had reached
the corral where we were stabling, but those of the other boys were
waiting in the stalls already saddled. We guessed the hold-up would be
close to the bank, because the treasurer of the association might take
any one of three streets to drive in from the fair grounds. That's where
we went wrong. The boys were just drunk enough not to remember this.
Well, while we were looking for our friends so as to stop this crazy
play they were going to pull off, Colter and I met the president of the
bank. We had known him in the mining country and he held us there
talking. While we were still there news comes of the robbery."

"And then?"

"We struck straight back to the corral. Our horses were there. The boys
had ridd