t while Farrel dismounted and casually
strolled back to the tree. He broke off a small twig and waited, while
the hounds, belling lustily, came nosing across the meadow. Kay rode up,
as the dogs, catching sight of the helpless cat, quickened their speed to
close in; she heard Farrel shout to them and saw him lay about him with
the twig, beating the eager animals back from their still dangerous prey.

Mr. and Mrs. Parker had, in the meantime, galloped up and stood by,
interested spectators, while Don Mike searched round until he found a
hard, thick, dry, broken limb from the sycamore.

"This certainly is my day for making money," he announced gaily. "Here's
where I put thirty dollars toward that three-hundred-thousand-dollar
mortgage." He stepped up to the lion and stunned it with a blow over the
head, after which he removed the riata from the creature's loins, slipped
the noose round the cat's neck, and hoisted the unconscious brute clear
of the ground.

"Now then," he announced cheerfully, "we'll just leave this fellow to
contemplate the result of a life of shame. He shall hang by the neck
until he is dead--dead--dead! We'll pick him up on our way back, and
to-night I'll skin him. Fall in, my squad! On our way."

"Do you do that sort of thing very often, Mr. Farrel?" Parker queried.

"Life is a bit dull out here, sir. Any time the dogs put up a panther in
the open, we try to rope him and have a little fun. This is the first
one I have roped alone, however. I always did want to rope a panther all
by myself. Ordinarily, I would not have told Miss Kay to head that cat
in toward me, but, then, she didn't flunk the gate back yonder, and I had
a great curiosity to see if she'd flunk the cat. She didn't and"--he
turned toward her with beaming, prideful eyes--"if I were out of debt, I
wouldn't trade my friendship with a girl as game as you, Kay, for the
entire San Gregorio valley. You're a trump."

"You're rather a Nervy Nat yourself, aren't you?" her droll mother struck
in. "As a Christian martyr, you would have had the Colosseum to
yourself; every tiger and lion in Rome would have taken to the tall
timber when you came on."

As he rode ahead, chuckling, to join her daughter, Farrel knew that at
all events he had earned the approval of the influential member of the
Parker family. Mrs. Parker, on her part, was far more excited than her
colloquial humor indicated.

"John," she whispered, "did you notice