w in Marco. We've got to make our own laws.
Let it be a matter of conscience. Boys, this man Hardman ruined my
father. I heard that from a reliable source at Littleton before I ever
got here. Don't you think it honest for Dad to take this money?"

"Shore, it's more than thet," replied Blinky. "I'd call it justice.
If you turned thet money over to law in Marco it'd go to Matthews. An'
you can bet your socks he'd keep it."

The consensus of opinion did not differ materially from Blinky's.

"Dad, it's a long trail that has no turning," said Pan, tossing both
wallet and roll to his father. "Here's to your new ranch in Arizona!"

Lying Juan soon called them to supper. It was not the usual cheery
meal, though Juan told an unusually atrocious lie, and Blinky made
several attempts to be funny. The sudden terrible catastrophe of the
day did not quickly release its somber grip.

After supper, however, there seemed to be a lessening of restraint,
with the conversation turning to the corrals full of wild horses.

"Wal, let's go an' look 'em over," proposed Blinky.

Pan was glad to see his father able and eager to accompany them, but he
did not go himself.

"Come on, you wild-hoss trapper," called Blinky. "We want to bet on
how rich we are."

"I'll come, presently," replied Pan.

He did not join them, however, but made his way along the north slope
to a high point where he could look down into the second corral. It
was indeed a sight to fill his heart--that wide mile-round grassy
pasture so colorful with its droves of wild horses. Black
predominated, but there were countless whites, reds, bays, grays,
pintos. He saw a blue roan that shone among the duller horses, too far
away to enable Pan to judge of his other points. Pan gazed with stern
restraint, trying to estimate the numbers without wild guess of
enthusiasm.

"More than fifteen hundred," he soliloquized at last, breathing hard.
"Too good to be true! Yet there they are.... If only that ... well,
no matter. I didn't force it. _I_ wasn't to blame... Maybe we can
keep it from mother and Lucy."

Pan did not start back to camp until after nightfall, when he heard
Blinky call.

"Say, you make a fellar nervous," declared Blinky, in relief, as Pan
approached the bright campfire. "Wal, did you take a peep at 'em?"

"Yes. It's sure a roundup," replied Pan. "I'd say between fifteen and
sixteen hundred head."

"Aw, you're just as locoed as any of us