nt.

"That's the kind of a spirit I like to see you show, Frances," he
declared, patting her hand. "If those punchers don't do what you tell
'em, bounce 'em! They've got to learn what you say goes--just as though
I spoke myself. And Ratty M'Gill never was worth the powder to blow him
to Halifax," concluded the ranchman, vigorously.

Frances was glad her father approved of her action. But she did not
believe they were well rid of Ratty just because he had started for
Jackleg Station.

She had constantly in mind Ratty and the man, Pete, with their heads
together beside the campfire; and she wondered what villainy they were
plotting. Nevertheless, in the face of possible danger, she went ahead
with her scheme of starting for Amarillo in the morning. And, as Ratty
had said, the chest, burlapped, corded, and tagged, stood in the main
hall of the ranch-house, ready for removal.

CHAPTER XVI

A FRIEND INSISTENT

It was a long way to the Peckham ranch-house, at which Frances meant to
make her first night stop. The greater part of the journey would then be
over.

The second night she proposed to stay at the hotel in Calas, a suburb of
Amarillo. Her errands in the big town would occupy but a few hours, and
she expected to be back at Peckham's on the third evening, and at home
again by the end of the fourth day.

She was troubled by the thought of being so long away from her father's
side; but he was on the mend again and the doctor had promised to see
him at least once while she was away from the ranch.

Her reason she gave for going to Amarillo was business connected with
the forthcoming pageant, "The Panhandle: Past and Present." This
explanation satisfied her father, too--and it was true to a degree.

She heard from the chaplain of the Bylittle Soldiers' Home the day
before she was to start on her brief journey, and she sent Jose Reposa
with a long prepaid telegraph message to the station, arranging for a
private car in which Jonas P. Lonergan was to travel from Mississippi to
the Panhandle. She hoped the chaplain would come with him. About the
ex-orderly of the home the letter said nothing. Perhaps Mr. Tooley had
overlooked that part of her message.

Captain Rugley was delighted that his old partner was coming West; the
announcement seemed to have quieted his mind. But he lay on his bed,
watching the corded chest, with his gun hanging close at hand.

That is, he watched one of the corded and burlapped c