or frowns.

"Not just for ornament, old joy-bringer," he retorted. "Using 'em
every now and then. I'm in deep here, Jim, with every cent I've got
and every hope of big things. Times, a man has to shoot his way out
into the clear or go to the wall. Hey, Gaucho!" he called, turning in
his saddle. "You and Tony haze the ponies in to the corrals. And tell
Castro we've got the King of Spain with us for grub and to put on the
best on the ranch; we'll blow in about noon. Come ahead, Jim; I'll
show you the finest lay-out of a cow outfit you ever trailed your eye
across."

They rode, saw everything, both acreage and water and stock, and
talked; for the most part Bruce did the talking, speaking with quick
enthusiasm of what he had, what he had done, what he meant to
accomplish yet in spite of obstacles. He had bought outright some six
thousand acres, expending for them and what low-bred stock they fed all
of his inherited capital. From the nearest bank, at El Ojo, he had
borrowed heavily, mortgaging his outfit. With the proceeds he had
leased adjoining lands so that now his stock grazed over ten thousand
acres; he had also bought and imported a finer strain of cattle. With
the market what it was he was bound to make his fortune, hand over
fist----

"If they'd only leave me alone!" he exclaimed hotly.

"They?" queried Kendric.

"Of course the country is unsettled," explained the boy. "Ever since I
came into it there has been one sort or another of unrest. When it
isn't outright revolution it's politics and that's pretty near the same
thing. There are prowling bands of outlaws, calling themselves
soldiers, that the authorities can't reach. Look at those mountains
over there! What government that has to give half its time or more to
watching its own step, can manage to ferret out every nest of
highwaymen in every canon? Those boys are my big trouble, Jim! A raid
from them is always on the books and there are times when I'm pretty
near ready to throw up the sponge and drift. But it's a great land; a
great land. And now you're with me!" His eyes shone. "I'll make you
any sort of a proposition you call for, Jim, and together we'll make
history. Not to mention barrels of money."

Kendric's ever-ready imagination was snared. But he was in no position
to forget that he had other fish to fry.

"What do you know of your neighbors?" he asked.

"Not much," admitted Bruce. "And yet enough to _sabe_ what you'r