t have any way of tying them, or
anything, and--"

"Brag, girl! For Lord's sake don't apologize; it doesn't come natural to
you. What gets me is that I was ripping the atmosphere wide open, trying
to rescue you, and all the while you were making a whole sheriff's posse
of yourself--and it was you that rescued me. I should think--"

"I did not! I--did Bill tell you the latest, Johnny? You know how dad
is--about making people tell things he wants to know, and keeping them
right to the point--"

"I know." Johnny's tone was eloquent.

"Well, he got at those Mexicans, and they told everything they knew--and
some besides. And who do you think was the real leader of that gang,
Johnny? And I know now it was his voice that I couldn't quite recognize
over the 'phone. They've arrested him and two or three of his men, and
you wouldn't _believe_ a neighbor could be so tricky and mean as that
Tucker Bly. Stealing _our_ horses to sell to the Mexicans, if you please,
and selling his own to the government mostly--but some to the Mexicans,
too, I suppose. And nobody suspecting a thing all the while, and Tex in
with them and all. And if you hadn't stampeded the horses so they came
back to the line, and the boys rounded them up, dad would have lost a lot
more than he did. But now the whole thing is out, and really, if I hadn't
caught those two greasers, there wouldn't be any evidence against the
Tucker Bly outfit, or Tex either. And I just think it's awful, the way--"

She stopped abruptly. Johnny's bandaged head was leaning against the back
of his big chair, and his eyes were closed. His face looked whiter than
it had a few minutes ago. Mary V was scared. She should have known better
than to talk of those things.

"Shall--would you like a drink, or--or something?" she asked in a small,
contrite voice.

Johnny opened his eyes and looked at her.

"No, I don't want a drink; I just want somebody to give me another knock
on the head that will finish me." And before Mary V could think of
anything soothing to say, Johnny spoke again. "I think I'll go back and
lie down awhile. I--don't feel very good."

He would not let Mary V help him at all, but walked slowly, steadying
himself by the chairs, the wall, by anything solid within reach. He did
not look much like the very self-assured, healthy specimen of young
manhood whom Mary V could bully and tease and talk to without constraint.
She felt as though she scarcely knew this thin, pale yo