aid was a remote possibility, and
that his and Blinky's subtle reaction to the thought came from their
highly excited imaginations. The days of rustling cattle and stealing
horses on a grand scale were gone into the past. Hardman's
machinations back there in Marco were those of a crooked man who played
safe. There was nothing big or bold about him, none of the earmarks of
the old frontier rustler. Matthews was still less of a character to
fear. Dick Hardman was a dissolute and depraved youth, scarcely to be
considered. Purcell, perhaps, or others of like ilk, might have to be
drawn upon sooner or later, but that being a personal encounter caused
Pan no anxiety. Thus he allayed the doubts and misgivings that had
been roused over Blinky's supposition.

"Let's see," he asked when he reached camp. "How many horses have we,
all told?"

"Thirty-one, countin' the pack hosses, an' thet outlaw sorrel of
yours," replied Blinky.

"Reckon we'll have to ride them all. Dragging cedars pulls a horse
down."

"Some of 'em we cain't ride, leastways I cain't."

"Grab some ropes and nose bags, everybody, and we'll fetch the string
into camp," ordered Pan.

In due time all the horses were ridden and driven back to camp, where a
temporary corral had been roped off in a niche of the slope.

"Wal, fellars, it's find a hoss you haven't rid before," sang out
Blinky, "an' everyone fer himself."

There was a stout, round-barreled buckskin that Pan's father had his
eye on.

"Don't like his looks, Dad," warned Pan. "Say, Blink, how about this
wormy-looking buck?"

"Wal, he's hell to get on, but there never was a better hoss wrapped up
in thet much hide."

Pan caught him and led him out of the corral. Just as the horse
stepped over the rope fence, which Pan held down, he plunged and made a
break to get loose, dragging Pan at the end of a thirty-foot lasso.
There was a lively tussle, which Pan finally won.

"Whoa, you bean-headed jasper," he yelled. "I'll ride you myself."

His father caught a brown bald-faced horse, nothing much to look at,
that acted gentle enough until he was mounted. Then!--He arched his
back, jumped up stiff legged, and began to pitch. Evidently Smith had
been a horseman in his day. He stayed on.

"Hang on, Dad," yelled Pan in delight.

"Ride him, cowboy," shrieked Blinky.

Fortunately for Smith, the horse was not one of the fiery devilish
species that would not be ridden. He straightened out