farther away.

Sometimes he could be seen from the ranch buildings, more often he
could not. When he could not be seen was when he was crouched among
the rocks, studying the Devil's Tooth Ridge with his powerful
glasses.

"Hope he's comfortable," he said once, when, satisfied that his guess
was correct, he put the glasses away and settled down seriously to
fishing.

He rode home with four trout, and Riley fried them for supper. During
supper Lance criticized Squaw Creek, and hinted that Mill Creek and
Lava Creek were better fishing waters, and that he meant to try them.

That night at eleven o'clock he made another silent tour of the
corrals and went to bed feeling pretty sure that the ranch would show
its present complement of men in the morning.

On the second day, four of the hired cowboys rode in at sundown, and
with them came Al. Their horses were fagged. They themselves were
dirty, hungry, tired. Their faces were glum--and the glumness remained
even after they had washed and eaten ravenously. Al did not come to
the house at all, but stayed down in the bunk house, whither Tom
presently went. Lance did not follow.

Belle looked worried and asked Lance constrainedly if he knew why Duke
had not come with the others. Lance laughed.

"Duke? Oh--he's on the trail of another dollar. By heck, Belle, I'm
afraid you've raised one son to be a shirk. I don't seem to need all
of that dollar chasing to make me happy."

Tom came in then, glanced swiftly from one to the other, said
something unimportant, rolled a cigarette with elaborate care, and
observed that Duke would find it hot, riding all the way to Shoshone,
and that he'd be darned if he'd go that far for any girl. He sat down
and disposed himself comfortably, got up, muttered something about
forgetting to turn Coaley out, and left the house.

Belle turned and looked at Lance. "Honey, it's that kind of thing--"

"I used to think, Belle, that you had the bluest eyes in the whole
world," Lance drawled quizzically. "They're blue enough, in all
conscience--by heck, Belle! Does a Lorrigan always love blue eyes?"

"I was going to say that--"

"You were going to say that you were not going to say a darned thing,
madam. You need a vacation, a trip somewhere. Why don't you beat it,
and get your nerves smoothed down a little?"

"Lance, you don't believe Duke--"

"Belle, your boys are old enough to think of girls a little bit, now
and then. Even your baby thinks of