On the last day of the round-up Johnny rode out to the SV and found a herd held against the wire fence. A branding fire was burning off to one side and Larry Hallock had just thrown a calf, its pitiful bawl turning its mother into a charging fury. The mother, being unbranded, was thrown instead of being diverted and received the same treatment being accorded to her sturdy offspring. Larry\'s helpers arose, let the calf up and grinned at its eagerness for maternal protection. They wiped their foreheads with wet sleeves and welcomed the visitor.

"There\'s some calves at that," said Larry, "but they\'re this year\'s crop. An\' that\'s th\' last brandin\', I reckon, for here. Cimarron an\' three of th\' boys are startin\' a clean-up north of th\' east end in that grassy valley. I reckon today will finish it."

Slim nodded. "It wouldn\'t hurt to keep a few men ridin\' well back, for a few days, pickin\' up strays; but I\'m sayin\' this ranch has been combed to a T. We\'ve cussed near branded even th\' shadows. You\'ll never have no trouble tellin\' them that Larry has branded. He paints wide an\' free like he was paintin\' a house. Just look at that yearlin\' over there; an\' them two weaners—they\'re cussed near all brand."

Larry grinned. "Shore; it saves a lot of ridin\' when[262] you can read \'em far off. I\'m in favor of histin\' flags on \'em an\' ridin\' sign with a telescope hangin\' from th\' saddle."

Johnny laughed at the grinning pair, dust and sweat from head to feet. "This ranch will have stampin\' irons as soon as it can get \'em, \'though Larry must hate \'em like poison. I\'m comin\' out here, some of these days, an\' put that horse corral at th\' house in better shape; an\' anybody that offers to help won\'t get insulted. Now I\'m ridin\' to th\' house. I got an idea an\' want to see how it sets with th\' Ol\' Man. See you later."

"I been scratchin\' all day for an idea like that," chuckled Slim. "All I could think of was a drink of water; an\' Larry goes an\' shoves out his canteen to me!"

"If I didn\'t," said Larry, "everybody would \'a\' got thirsty, an\' then who would \'a\' held this herd?"

Johnny laughed and rode off, his friends watching him for a few moments. Then Larry went toward his horse, Slim following him.

"Well," said Slim, "Nelson knows where he can find a parson ten miles closer than Highbank, anyhow. After he put her on her hoss th\' other day in Gunsight an\' went off to get his own, she looked after him—an\' I ain\'t no fool. I\'m in favor of holdin\' it in town. An\' I says this here busted-down ranch needs a good man to take hold of it an\' run it. I reckon an outfit of four would swing it handsome. Yes, three good men could do it."

Larry swung into the saddle. "I got three brothers that shore do love singin\' since Two-Spot was planted.[263] I\'m leanin\' strong to th\' melodious myself. An\' I\'m admittin\' that I never knowed what singin\' was before. Well, you maverick, let\'s go an\' help \'em count that herd. You an\' me aim to stop in town tonight on our way home, don\'t we? Then come on."

Johnny dismounted at the kitchen door and knocked. Charley came running and acted as host.

"Gee!" he exclaimed, his eyes sweeping to the six-guns and resting on them. "Come on in! Peggy\'s readin\' to dad. He\'s gettin\' plumb ornery an\' says he\'s goin\' to get up tomorrow, anyhow, come h—l or high water. Here she is now: Hey, Sis! Here\'s Mr. Nelson—bet yo\'re plumb glad to see him. Is dad still on th\' prod?"

"Charley! What language! How you do pick things up! How-do-you-do, Mr. Nelson?" she smiled, holding out her hand. "I am so glad to see someone who may have a good influence on father. Come in. Father, here is our friend, Mr. Nelson."

"Which gun got Wolf?" demanded Charley.

"Glad to see you, sir!" exclaimed Arnold. "You have been entirely too much a stranger to this house. Sit down, and tell me what is going on. That Cimarron may know how to talk, but he doesn\'t seem very anxious to prove it. When I ask him how he finds the ranch he tells me about everything else that he can in one minute, pleads work, and leaves."

"I think a whole lot of Cimarron," replied Johnny. "He and his boys have worked like slaves out here—they\'ve done an amazin\' lot. They expect to have everything cleaned up and counted by tonight, or by[264] tomorrow, without fail. Then we can do some figgerin\' ourselves, an\' see how many cows are comin\' to you. What I called for was to make a proposition to you, an\' I think it\'s a good one."

"Go ahead; I\'m sayin\' yes to it right now," smiled Arnold.

"I reckoned mebby you would say that after you heard it," said Johnny. "McCullough, trail boss for Twitchell and Carpenter, is comin\' up from th\' south with two thousand head of mixed cattle. His deliveries call for four thousand head, an\' he is countin\' on gettin\' th\' second two thousand right up here around Gunsight. Th\' Bar H is throwin\' a thousand over to him an\' th\' Triangle has promised him five hundred. Th\' other five hundred was to come from th\' Double X, but Sherwood has got other ideas. He\'s got a good outfit an\' hankers on gamblin\' a little. He\'s made up his mind to sell McCullough only a hundred head of older cattle an\' keep th\' other four hundred for his own trail herd next year. He says Dodge, but I reckon he\'s fishin\' for a government contract up north; an\' if he is, an\' lands it, he\'ll make a lot of money."

"I wish somebody would show me how to make some," replied Arnold, gloomily. "We are headed for some poorhouse, I\'m afraid."

"Father!" exclaimed Margaret, reprovingly. "You should not say or think such things. Everything will come out all right. Our luck is turning."

Johnny glanced at her and smiled.

"Perhaps it is, but I can\'t see its face, yet," retorted Arnold. "We\'ll know how many head we have, and[265] how many we have lost, but that knowledge won\'t keep us, will it?"

"Perhaps Mr. Nelson has something to say concerning that."

"I have, Ma\'am," smiled Johnny, his eyes for an instant resting full on hers. "I\'m goin\' to suggest that th\' SV sells McCullough that missin\' four hundred head. That will be th\' best way to turn some of yore cattle into money, an\' it will bring you as much as you can hope to get without startin\' an outfit up th\' trail. If you put a herd on th\' trail, it would have to be a small one this year, an\' there ain\'t no profit in drivin\' four hundred cows up to Dodge, \'specially th\' kind you\'d have to take. You\'d have th\' risk an\' th\' worry, an th\' spendin\' of quite some money. This other way you\'ll get yore money, an\' McCullough will have th\' wrestlin\' to do. Now, I suggests that you let Cimarron drive four hundred head home with him tomorrow, an\' keep \'em handy on th\' Double X for th\' drive herd. They\'ll road brand \'em an\' hold \'em with their own, and when Sherwood gets th\' money, he\'ll send yourn to you, an\' you\'ll have something to work on."

"And we will be four hundred head nearer bankruptcy," growled Arnold, more to give vent to his pessimism, which had become nearly chronic by this time.

"There will be more than that many turned over to you before winter," said Johnny. "Cattle stealin\' don\'t go very long down here, even. Now, don\'t ask me nothin\' about it; but I\'m wishin\' you\'d give me authority to act for you in any little thing that might come up—I might not have time to ride out here for it, then."

[266]

"Why, certainly; and I\'ll be glad to have somebody act for me who knows what to do," replied Arnold.

"All right. I\'m advisin\' you to tell Cimarron to go ahead with that little trail herd. I\'m goin\' out that way now, an\' I\'ll speak to him about it if you want me to."

"I think that is a splendid idea," enthused Margaret. "If we did not sell them, they will be a year older next year, and we will have to sell them then, anyhow."

"All right!" grunted Arnold. "Sell them. I don\'t care what is done, if only I can get out of this cursed bed. And I\'ll be out of it tomorrow or know the reason why!"

"We\'d better have th\' Doc come out an\' look at it," said Johnny. "I\'ll be ridin\' to town purty soon an\' I\'ll drop in an\' tell him. He shore ought to finish what he started."

Margaret\'s hand went to his arm. "Please!" she pleaded. "Don\'t—don\'t have any trouble—we—father can wait a little longer, I\'m sure."

"I certainly can, Nelson," quickly spoke up the quasi-invalid, "if it will save you from any trouble. I don\'t know just how much I would do for you."

"There won\'t be no trouble, at all," Johnny gravely assured them. "Doc an\' I know each other real well. You\'ve got no idea how well we get along together. You\'d be surprised if you only knowed how prompt he\'ll start for here. Why, trouble with me over a little thing like this is th\' last thing he\'d think of. You just stay where you are till he sees you an\' says you can get up."

[267]

"That\'s the least I can do," replied Arnold "D—n it, man! If I only were up and about, and could get a few good, honest men to work for me, I\'d make something out of the SV!"

"You\'ll be up an\' around before you know it," Johnny assured him. "An\' you won\'t have no trouble gettin\' three honest men to ride for you. That parson must \'a\' had a good influence on this range, even before he come down to Gunsight. Did I hear Sam Gardner tell him he was tired of workin\' for th\' Triangle?" he asked Margaret. "Why, of course you didn\'t. Well, I\'ll have to ask Sam if I heard right. I\'m going to ask you to send to Highbank for three SV stampin\' irons—Arch Wiggins is ridin\' down there tomorrow. They\'re real handy—an\' chute brandin\' shore saves a lot of time. They\'ll be needed in a month or so. Arch knows a blacksmith that can turn \'em out alike as three cartridges."

"You get anything you think we need," said Arnold. "How about some wire for those quicksands?"

"They\'re fixed to stay fixed," answered Johnny. "Arch an\' that Wood Hallock are great boys when it comes to wire, an\' I\'m gamblin\' on that wire stayin\' up till it rusts, which won\'t be soon. There\'s six strands, an\' they set quite some few more posts. Arch does things right. I reckon he\'ll be lookin\' for a job when he gets through visitin\' Highbank. He says as how he\'s quittin\' th\' Circle 4. An\' from what I\'ve seen of Arch, I like him a lot."

"Tell him to see me before he leaves the ranch," exclaimed Arnold. "Why, we\'re sailing along at a[268] great clip. Look here, Nelson, there\'s a spare-room here—you come and use it until you ride south. You\'re better than a tonic. Quit that hotel—God save the word—and come out here."

"Well, I hardly think I can do that," smiled Johnny, "\'though I\'m thankin\' you, just th\' same. I\'ve got business close to Gunsight that\'ll keep me there for quite a spell, but afterward, I\'ll mebby spend a couple of days with you."

"Well, come when you can," replied Arnold. "If you think of anything else this ranch needs to get from Highbank, order it. You can tell that Arch that there\'s a job here if he wants it. I\'ll leave the question of wages to you."

"All right, but I\'ll send him in, anyhow," said Johnny, arising. "I\'ll be goin\' now. You better stay where you are till th\' Doc comes an\' looks you over," and he followed Margaret out.

"You are sure that you will have no trouble with Doctor Reed?" she asked, as he stepped onto the porch.

"Why, no, Ma\'am; th\' Doc is seein\' th\' error of his sinful ways, an\' I reckons he\'ll do purty near anythin\' I tell him to if I tell him right. An\' of course, I wouldn\'t tell him no other way."

"You are a puzzle to me," confessed Margaret, smiling. "I\'m never quite sure about you."

"Puzzle?" He turned his hat over and looked into it as if to find something puzzling. "Why, Ma\'am," he said, grinning, daring another deep look into her eyes, "I\'m as simple an\' easy to read as a—as a—[269]Injun. Now if it was you I\'d say there was a puzzle—but, pshaw! I never was no good, at all, figgerin\' puzzles. I remember once I was watchin\' some tenderfeet playin\' billiards, when I was in Kansas City, after leavin\' some cattle at th\' yards across th\' river. They did things to them balls that I never thought could be done, an\' they did them easylike. Billiards is mebby an easy game, Ma\'am, for them that knows how. It looked plumb easy to me, an\' awful temptin\'. I got me a table over in a corner an\' took off my coat. I ain\'t never tried it since. Th\' proprietor come a-runnin\' an tells me that th\' blacksmith-shop is down th\' street a couple of blocks. That\'s me, Ma\'am—my touch ain\'t gentle—I can\'t help smashin\'. An\' when somebody gives me a puzzle to figger out I allus look to see if I can smash through it. But puzzles ain\'t made that way I reckon."

Margaret stepped back into the kitchen, half closed the door and said, quickly, quietly, although somewhat breathlessly: "There is no puzzle worth the solving that the right man can\'t solve—if he tries hard enough."

Johnny started forward, but the door closed in his face and he heard the bar drop, and then the front door slammed. He tensed himself and then relaxed, a smile lighting up his face like a sunrise bathing a granite mountain. "This weather is bound to change," he said, loudly. "I can feel cyclones in th\' air—an\' I ain\'t th\' only one that had better look to their tent............