flood cut him off from home," said Brackton. "An' he's been
some trial. But nobody else would have done nothin' for him, so I had
to. I reckon I felt sorry for him. He cried like a baby thet had lost
its mother. Then he gets wild-lookin' an' raved around. When I wasn't
busy I kept an eye on him. But some of the time I couldn't, an' he
stole drinks, which made him wuss. An' when I seen he was tryin' to
sneak one of my guns, I up an' gets suspicious. Once he said, 'My dad's
hosses are goin' to starve, an' I'm goin' to kill somebody!' He was out
of his head an' dangerous. Wal, I was worried some, but all I could do
was lock up my guns. Last night I caught him confabin' with some men
out in the dark, behind the store. They all skedaddled except Joel, but
I recognized Cordts. I didn't like this, nuther. Joel was surly an'
ugly. An' when one of the riders called him he said: 'Thet boat NEVER
DRIFTED OFF. Fer the night of the flood I went down there myself an'
tied the ropes. They never come untied. Somebody cut them--jest before
the flood--to make sure my dad's hosses couldn't be crossed. Somebody
figgered the river an' the flood. An' if my dad's hosses starve I'm
goin' to kill somebody!'"

Brackton took up the lantern and placed a hand on the door ready to go
out.

"Then a rider punched Joel--I never seen who--an' Joel had a fit. I
dragged him in here. An' as you see, he ain't come to yet."

"Wal, Brackton, the boy's crazy," said Bostil.

"So I reckon. An' I'm afeared he'll burn us out--he's crazy on fires,
anyway--or do somethin' like."

"He's sure a problem. Wal, we'll see," replied Bostil, soberly.

And they went out to find Slone waiting. Then Bostil called his guests,
and with Slone also accompanying him, went home.

Bostil threw off the recurring gloom, and he was good-natured when Lucy
came to his room to say good night. He knew she had come to say more
than that.

"Hello, daughter!" he said. "Aren't you ashamed to come facin' your
poor old dad?"

Lucy eyed him dubiously. "No, I'm not ashamed. But I'm still a
little--afraid."

"I'm harmless, child. I'm a broken man. When you put Sage King out of
the race you broke me."

"Dad, that isn't funny. You make me an--angry when you hint I did
something underhand."

"Wal, you didn't consult ME."

"I thought it would be fun to surprise you all. Why, you're always
delighted with a surprise in a race, unless it beats you.... Then, it
was my great and only chanc