il they don't seem to care for anything
else. Now, I know an ageless lady who's going to bed and forget all
about her nerves and her notions. Or if she doesn't forget, she'll
remember too that she has somebody around who knows--and who cares a
heap for his mother." Lance pulled her close and kissed her
comfortingly.

"That helps," whispered Belle. "You've changed, too--but not like the
rest, thank God. And I thought maybe you had noticed things--"

"I have noticed that the Devil's Tooth is mighty busy chasing dollars
on the hoof," soothed Lance. "It has left our Belle alone too much,
and it has gotten on her nerves. Go to bed, woman--and dream of
pleasant things."

He took her by the shoulders and pushed her playfully to the very door
of her bedroom, gave her another kiss and turned the knob for her, and
watched her go in with a smile on her face. His own smile lasted only
until the door was closed. He went to the lamp, blew it out and
entered his own room, removed his shoes and dropped them on the floor
with more noise than was considerate of his father's slumber, lighted
his lamp and moved aimlessly about the room for a time.

He sat down on the edge of the bed while he smoked a cigarette, his
elbows on his knees, his thoughts traveling far trails. Abruptly he
rose, put on a pair of well-worn tennis shoes, opened a door leading
outside and went quietly down to the corrals.

The first corral he crossed and found it empty of any horses save the
pintos and Coaley. The second corral held three horses, one of them
the chunky roan he had ridden that afternoon. The third and largest
corral was empty, the gate swinging open.

"All right--no horses caught up for night-riding--_yet_," he said to
himself, and returned to the house, leaving the straighter path to
pass close to the bunk house. He listened there for a full two
minutes, decided that it would take at least five men to do all of
that snoring, and went to bed thankful for the comfort of a felt
mattress under his tired body.

The next day passed without any incidents save trivial ones that did
not count. Lance rode to the creek with his trout-rod and reel--more
citified innovations which the ranch eyed askance--and spent four
hours loitering along the bank, his fly floating uselessly over
shallow pools where was never a fish. It was not the right time of day
for fishing, but Lance seemed to have forgotten the lore he had
learned along that same creek and others