rtiest dog in town.

And the easiest time for an animal to tell is the time to stop work and
eat. Felix was very clever in that regard. At about six o'clock the
unsuspecting Whitey dismounted to stretch himself and ease the strain of
jouncing up and down on that rocking-chair that had come to feel like a
ridge-pole. Naturally his eyes turned away from Felix, to whom he was
beginning to take a personal dislike.

Whitey's eyes were brought back with a jerk by the soft thud of little
hoofs on the prairie, for Felix was beating it back toward Willer Bend,
with a speed that astonished his late rider. Whitey started after him
instinctively, but he soon realized that that was useless, and he stood
and watched, while Felix became a blurred spot in the distance. Whitey
didn't know that it was time to quit for the day at the
grinding-mill--and it would not have done him any good if he had.

But he knew that it was lonely on the prairie. And that he had come only
about a third of the way to the Star Circle Ranch. So he supposed he
must be in for another walk, for he wouldn't go back to Willer Bend for
that Felix, not if he died for it. He started determinedly on his
course. He might meet some one who would give him a lift. Anyway, it was
going to be a moonlight night, and wouldn't be so bad; and walking
wasn't much slower than riding Felix, and was far more comfortable.

So Whitey trudged and trudged until dusk came. Then he sat down and ate
some of the food he had brought with him. Then darkness came, and a big
moon poked its head up over the eastern horizon, and rode up into the
sky, where it began to get smaller and more silvery, and to flood the
prairie with its light. And Whitey started, and it wasn't so bad to
tread the soft road, and to hear the hum of the insects, and to feel the
gentle night breeze against his face, and it would be something to tell
about afterwards.

Whitey did not know what time it was when he sat down on a hummock to
rest. And he must have fallen asleep, for after a while, out of some
vague country that seemed like the mountains near the Bar O Ranch, a
great giant came rushing down toward him. And the giant had a head like
Felix's, but on top of it was a big yellow light--like those lamps
miners wear on their heads--that grew brighter and brighter, and the
giant roared louder and louder, until he woke Whitey up.

Whitey rubbed his eyes, then pinched himself to make sure he was awake,
for the roar