ut Johnny had been schooled to the monotony
of a range line-camp, and if he could have ridden over the country
while he waited, he would not have minded being left idle most of the
time.

But he did not dare leave camp for more than half an hour or so at a
time, because he never knew what minute Cliff might return and want
him; and when one is being paid something like ten dollars an hour,
waking or sleeping, for his time, one feels constrained to keep that
precious time absolutely available to his employer. At least, Johnny
felt constrained to do so. He could not even go duck hunting. Mateo
hunted the ducks, using Johnny's gun or Cliff's, and seldom failing to
bring back game. It would be ducks shot by Mateo which would furnish
the circumstantial evidence which Cliff mentioned that morning.

Johnny went out to the Thunder Bird, shooed three kids from under the
wings, and began to fuss with the motor. One advantage of being idle
most of the time was the easy life the Thunder Bird was leading. The
motor was not being worn out on this job, at any rate.

So far he had not spent a hundred dollars of his salary on the upkeep
of his machine. He was glad of that, because he already had enough to
pay old Sudden and have the price of a car left over. With the Thunder
Bird clear, and a couple of thousand dollars to the good--why, he would
not change places with the owner of the Rolling R himself! He could go
back any time and vindicate himself to the whole outfit. He could pick
Mary V up and carry her off now, without feeling that he was taking any
risk with her future. Poor little girl, she would be wondering what
had become of him; he'd write, or send a wire, if Cliff would ever open
his heart enough to take a fellow with him to where there was a
post-office or something.

He was beginning to feel a deep need of some word from Mary V, was
Johnny. He was beginning to worry, to grow restive down here in the
wilderness, seeing nothing, doing nothing save kill time between those
short, surreptitious flights across to the notched ridge and back
again. Two weeks of that was beginning to pall.

But the money he was receiving did not pall. It held him in leash,
silenced the doubts that troubled him now and then, kept him
temporizing with that uneasy thing we call conscience.

He climbed now into the cockpit, testing the controls absent-mindedly
while he pondered certain small incidents that caused him a certain
vag