"Good suggestion," assented the trail foreman. "But here: I'll leave two
good horses in your care for the wounded man, and all you need to do is
to ride down to the trail, hail any passing herd, and simply tell them
you are harboring a crippled lad, one of Don Lovell's boys, and you can
levy on them for all they have. It's high time you were getting
acquainted with these trail outfits. Shelter this man of mine, and all
will come out well in the end. Besides, I'll tell old man Don about you
boys, and he might take you home to his ranch with him. He has no boys,
and he might take a fancy to you two."

Dell's eyes moistened at the suggestion of a home. The two brothers
reentered the dug-out, and the men led their horses down to the creek
for a drink. A span of poor old mules stood inside a wooden corral, a
rickety wagon and a few rusty farming implements were scattered about,
while over all the homestead was the blight of a merciless
summer drouth.

"What a pretty little ranch this would make," said the trail boss to the
stranger. "If these boys had a hundred cows, with this water and range,
in a few years they would be independent men. No wonder that oldest boy
is cautious. Just look around and see the reward of their father's and
their own labor. Their very home denies them bread."

"Did you notice the older boy brighten," inquired the visitor, "when you
suggested leaving horses in their care? It was the only argument that
touched him."

"Then I'll use it," said the trail boss, brightening. "We have several
cow horses in our remuda, unfit for saddle,--galled backs and the
like,--and if these boys would care for them, I'll make their hungry
hearts happy. Care and attention and a month's rest would make the
ponies as sound as a dollar. You suggest my giving them each a saddle
pony; argue the matter, and try and win me over."

The men retraced their steps, leading their horses, and when scarcely
halfway from the creek to the dug-out, Dell ran down to meet them. "If
you can spare us a few blankets and a pillow," earnestly said the boy,
"we'll take the wounded man. He's liable to be feverish at night, and
ought to have a pillow. Joel and I can sleep outside or in the stable."

"Hurrah for the Wells boys!" shouted the trail boss. "Hereafter I'll bet
my money, horse and saddle, on a red-headed boy. Blankets? Why, you can
have half a dozen, and as to pillows, watch me rob the outfit. I have a
rubber one, there are sever