h with a long rifle resting in the hollow of his arm. Or
in the mountains he saw an old, fur-capped trapper crouch behind the
shelter of a boulder, his single-shot, heavy-barreled rifle directed
toward an unconscious, lumbering grizzly, the trapper's life hanging on
the accuracy of his one shot. Yes, like all boys Whitey was full of
these dreams.

"Injun, we'll take a pioneer hunting trip!" he cried.

It took a little time to explain this matter to Injun, but when it was
explained Injun was keen for the plan, too, for his being Injun didn't
make him different from any other boy at heart. He was to take his bow
and arrows. Whitey would borrow an old-fashioned Springfield rifle, that
belonged to his father. There would be no Winchester repeaters, nor
trout rods with multiplying reels, nor any of the modern weapons for
slaying game or fish. It would be a sort of return to the wild.

And here the first trouble arose with Injun; that of leaving his
six-guns behind. It took some time to coax him to do this; to entrust
them to the safe in the ranch house. But, that done, it was necessary
only to get Mr. Sherwood's permission and to make the preparations. Mr.
Sherwood was not in the ranch house, nor in the bunk house, where Bill
Jordan was starting one of his lengthy yarns. Whitey paused there for a
moment.

"What I don't know about boys a tongue-tied man could tell in half a
second," Bill was saying.

"A tongue-tied man couldn't tell nothin' in half a second," objected
Shorty Palmer.

"That's just what I mean," Bill said. "There ain't nothin' to tell. Now,
'bout a boy bein' civil. You don't often find one, out West here, and
when you do it's mostly accident; mebbe inherited. 'Course you c'n train
a boy t' be p'lite, but you got t' be careful, like in trainin' any
other animal, an' not take th' spunk outa him. Most folks thinks that
when a boy's civil he ain't got nothin' else t' recommend him, but
'tain't allus so. Now, I knowed a boy, onc't--"

But Whitey fled. He could not afford to wait for Bill's story, which
probably would take all the morning. He found his father, overcame that
gentleman's objections to the pioneer hunting trip, and Injun and Whitey
had a busy time gathering the food, weapons, and clothing for their
journey to the mountains, where the simple life was to be led.

It was shortly after noon when they rode away, the men on the ranch
watching, and perhaps each feeling in his heart a little twinge, as