ed to him. I rode him down to Sinkhole, and I found him a perfectly
gentle lady's horse. So there now, Mr. Bill. You just--"

"And what did you find at Sinkhole?" Sudden led her firmly back to the
subject.

"I found that the beans were sour, and the bread was hard as a rock, and
there wasn't one thing to show that a meal had been cooked in that camp
for two days, at least. And Johnny's bedding was gone--or some of it,
anyway. And so was Sandy. So I came back, and changed horses, and took
Tango. I knew, of course, how stingy a person can be about a horse. And
as I was riding away, behind that line of rocks so Mr. Stingy wouldn't
see me, I saw a certain person come sneaking up to the corral and turn
his horse inside. It was just barely daylight then, but it was the same
person I saw meet the Mexican.

"And I hurried hack to Snake Ridge, so I got there quite early in the
morning. And I saw two men ride off toward the eastern line of Sinkhole
range, and they were not Johnny Jewel at all, which would be perfectly
impossible. Because soon afterwards I saw something very queer being
hauled by mules, and that was Johnny bringing home his airplane,
perfectly innocent."

"Who's the fellow--" Sudden and Bill spoke together, the question which
harried the minds of both.

"Of course," said Mary V, "I understand that some one from the ranch
would have to put them up to distracting Johnny's attention by letting
him have that airplane. I can see that they would want to keep him busy
so he wouldn't pay so much attention to the horses down there, and would
not notice a few horses gone now and then. So somebody had heard about
the airplane, and told them that Johnny was perfectly mad about aviation,
and--"

Sudden turned, and took her by the shoulders. "Mary V, who was that man?
Don't try to shield him, because I shall--"

"The very idea! I don't want to shield him at all. I merely want Jake,
without any strings on him whatever. Because he can go like the very
dickens, and I want to keep an eye on Tex myself. He won't pay any
attention--"

"Tex! Good Lord! Bill, you--"

"Listen, dad, I think I _deserve_ to have Jake. You _know_ I can ride
him, and you're so short-handed, and I can watch Tex--"

"Go saddle him up for her, Bill, will you? I guess the kid's done enough
to put her on a par with the rest of us."

"I'll say she has," Bill surrendered, a grin splitting his leathery face
straight across the middle. "I been watchin'