re he can walk!"

Farrel glanced critically at his wrist-watch and seemed to ponder this.

"I fear five minutes is all I can permit, sir," he replied. "If he
should be unable to walk from his room, Murray, who is the soul of
thoughtfulness, will doubtless assist him to the waiting automobile."

Five minutes later, the potato baron and the potato baron's suitcase
were lifted into the tonneau of the car by Murray and William. From
over by the blacksmith shop, Don Mike saw Parker bid his Japanese
confrere adieu, and as the car dipped below the mesa, Parker came over
and joined them.

"Thought you were going in to El Toro this afternoon," the young man
suggested.

"I had planned to, but changed my mind after beholding that Nipponese
ruin. To have driven to El Toro with him would have broken my heart."

"Never mind, pa," Mrs. Parker consoled him; "you'll have your day in
court, will you not?"

"I think he's going to have several of them," Don Mike predicted
maliciously, and immediately withdrew the sting from his words by
placing his hand in friendly fashion on Parker's shoulder and shaking
him playfully. "In the interim, however," he continued, "now that our
unwelcome guests have departed and peace has been reestablished on El
Palomar (for I hear Pablo whistling 'La Paloma' in the distance), what
reason, if any, exists why we shouldn't start right now to get some fun
out of life? I've had a wonderful forenoon at your expense, so I want
you and the ladies to have a wonderful afternoon at mine." He glanced
alertly from one to the other, questioningly.

"I wonder if the horses have recovered from their furious chase of this
morning," Kay ventured.

"Of course. That was merely an exercise gallop. How would you all
like to come for a ride with me over to the Agua Caliente basin?"

"Why the Agua Caliente basin?" Parker queried casually. "That's quite
a distance from here, is it not?"

"About seven miles--fourteen over and back. Suppose William follows
with the car after his return from El Toro. You can then ride back
with him, and I'll bring the horses home. I realize fourteen miles is
too great a distance for inexperienced riders."

"Isn't that going to considerable trouble?" Parker suggested suavely.
"Suppose we ride down the valley. I prefer flat land to rolling
country when I ride."

"No game down that way," Farrel explained patiently. "We'll take the
hounds and put something up a tree over Calie