quietly.

The old gentleman stared at him.

"By Jove!" he said, "I believe you mean to. And if you do, you'll
succeed."

"Can you direct me to the house of Mr. Macfarren?" inquired Shock.

"Certainly. That is his house among the trees," pointing to a cottage
with a verandah about it, which stood back some distance from the main
street. "But if you wish to see Mr. Macfarren, you will find him down
at the other end of the street at the finishing post. He will be very
busily engaged at the present, however, being one of the judges in this
race, and if it is not of immediate importance I would advise your
waiting till the race is over. But stay, here he comes. The man in the
centre is Mr. Macfarren."

As he spoke he pointed to a tall man, with a long, grizzled beard,
riding a pony, followed by two younger men splendidly mounted. The
elder of these was a man strongly built, face open and honest, but
showing signs of hard living. He rode a powerful black horse, whose
temper showed in his fierce snatching at the bit. Just now the horse
was covered with foam, reddened at the flanks and mouth with blood.

His companion was much younger, a mere boy, indeed. His fair hair, blue
eyes, and smooth face accentuated his youthful appearance. It was his
youthful face and boyish manner that gave him his name among the cattle
men, and his place in their hearts. But though they called him "The
Kid," and often "The Kiddie," and thought of him with admiring and
caressing tenderness, no man of them failed to give him full respect;
for boy as he was, he had a man's nerve, a man's grip, his muscles were
all steel, and with all his smiling gentleness none of them would think
of taking a liberty with him. Earlier in the day he had won from a
dozen competitors that most coveted of all honours in the ranching
country, The Bucking Belt, for he had ridden for the full hundred yards
without "touching leather," the OUTLAW specially imported from the
other side.

As the three men rode up the rider of the black horse was heard to say,
"That's the fellow that nearly spilled me. And if Demon hadn't been
mighty quick in recovering, it would have been a blank nasty mess."

"I say," said Macfarren, in a loud, blustering tone, "don't you know
enough to keep off a race-course when a race is being run?"

Shock was much taken aback at this greeting.

"I beg your pardon, but I didn't know this was a race-course, nor did I
know that a race was on."

"T