rom
the family, he had the assurance to call at the school. His honest
countenance was a passport anywhere, and he not only saw Esther but
prevailed on her teachers to give the girl, some time during his visit
in the city, a half holiday. The interest he manifested in the girl won
his request, and the two had spent an afternoon visiting the parks and
other points of interest. It is needless to add that he made hay in my
behalf during this half holiday. But the most encouraging fact that he
unearthed was that Esther was disgusted with her school life and was
homesick. She had declared that if she ever got away from school, no
power on earth could force her back again.

"Shucks, Tom," said he, the next morning after his return, as we were
sitting in the shade of the corrals waiting for the _remuda_ to come in,
"that poor little country girl might as well be in a penitentiary as in
that school. She belongs on these prairies, and you can't make anything
else out of her. I can read between the lines, and any one can see that
her education is finished. When she told me how rudely her mother had
treated you, her heart was an open book and easily read. Don't you lose
any sleep on how you stand in her affections--that's all serene. She'll
he home on a spring vacation, and that'll be your chance. If I was your
age, I'd make it a point to see that she didn't go back to school.
She'll run off with you rather than that. In the game of matrimony, son,
you want to play your cards boldly and never hesitate to lead trumps."

To further matters, when returning by stage my employer had ingratiated
himself into the favor of the driver in many ways, and urged him to send
word to Mrs. McLeod to turn in her two-year-olds on his contract. A few
days later her foreman and son-in-law, Tony Hunter, rode down to Las
Palomas, anxious for the chance to turn in cattle. There had been little
opportunity for several years to sell steers, and when a chance like
this came, there would have been no trouble to fill half a dozen
contracts, as supply far exceeded demand.

Uncle Lance let Mrs. McLeod's foreman feel that in allotting her five
hundred of the younger cattle, he was actuated by old-time friendship
for the family. As a mark of special consideration he promised to send
the trail foreman to the San Miguel to pass on the cattle on their home
range, but advised the foreman to gather at least seven hundred steers,
allowing for two hundred to be culle