ty leered at her from his saddle. She knew he
must be partly intoxicated, for he was very careless with his matches.
He allowed a flaming splinter to fall to the trail, after he lit his
cigarette, and, drunk or sober, a cattleman is seldom careless with fire
on the plains.

It was mid-pasturage season and the ranges were already dry. A spark
might at any time start a serious fire.

"We-ell," gasped Frances, at last. "I can't stop you from coming!"

"Of course not!" laughed Pratt, and quickly turned his grey pony to ride
beside the pinto.

The wagon was now a long way ahead. They set off on a gallop to overtake
it. But when Frances looked over her shoulder after a minute, Ratty
M'Gill still remained on the trail, as though undecided whether to
follow or not.

CHAPTER XVII

AN ACCIDENT

It was not until later that Frances was disturbed by the thought that
Pratt was suspected by her father of having a strong curiosity regarding
the Spanish treasure chest.

"And here he has forced his company upon me," thought the girl. "What
would father say, if he knew about it?"

But fortunately Captain Rugley was not at hand with his suspicions.
Frances wished to believe the young man from Amarillo truly her friend;
and on this ride toward Peckham's they became better acquainted than
before.

That is, the girl of the ranges learned to know Pratt better. The young
fellow talked more freely of himself, his mother, his circumstances.

"Just because I'm in a bank--the Merchants' and Drovers'--in Amarillo
doesn't mean that I'm wealthy," laughed Pratt Sanderson. "They don't
give me any great salary, and I couldn't afford this vacation if it
wasn't for the extra work I did through the cattle-shipping season and
the kindness of our president.

"Mother and I are all alone; and we haven't much money," pursued the
young man, frankly. "Mother has a relative somewhere whom she suspects
may be rich. He was a gold miner once. But I tell her there's no use
thinking about rich relatives. They never seem to remember their poor
kin. And I'm sure one can't blame them much.

"We have no reason to expect her half-brother to do anything for me.
Guess I'll live and die a poor bank clerk. For, you know, if you haven't
money to invest in bank stock yourself, or influential friends in the
bank, one doesn't get very high in the clerical department of such an
institution."

Frances listened to him with deeper interest than she was willing