d to try it, but for their sakes he
knew he must not let their enthusiasm sweep away his sober judgment. Had
they owned but half his experience it would be different; but their very
ignorance of the game hampered his decision.

"Well, boss, how about it?" Andy urged. "Are yuh game to try her a whirl?
We haven't got much, but what we've got is yours if you want to tackle
it. We'll be right with you--till hell's no bigger than a bullet ladle."

"That's just what holds me back. I'd certainly hate to lead you up
against a losing proposition, boys. And if I went into it, I'd go in over
my eyebrows; if I didn't make good I wouldn't have the price of a tag on
a ten-cent sack of Bull Durham when I quit; so I couldn't pay you back--"

"Aw, thunder! Think we never set into a poker game in our lives? Think
we're in the habit of hollerin' for our chips back when we lose? What's
the matter with yuh, anyway?" cried Big Medicine wrathfully.

"Why, of course we share the risk of losing!" Rosemary scowled at him
indignantly. "We'll go in over our eyebrows, too,--and stand on our toes
long as we can, to keep our scalp locks showing above water!" Her brown
eyes twinkled a swift glance around the table. "If you think these boys
are quitters, Luck Lindsay, you just ought to have been around when they
were hanging on to their homesteads! I could tell you things--"

"You say buying a camera is just a starter. How much do you figure it
would cost to make our Big Picture? Cutting out salaries and all such
little luxuries, what would the actual expenses be--making a rough
guess?" Weary leaned forward over his plate and forgot all about his
tempting wedge of shortcake.

Luck pushed back his plate and smiled his smile. "For the Big Picture,"
he began, while the Happy Family leaned to listen, "there'd be the camera
and outfit,--I could pick up some things second hand,--we'll call that
fourteen hundred and fifty. Then there would be at least five thousand
feet of film: perforated raw stock I could get for about three and three
quarter cents a foot. Say a couple, of hundred dollars for that. We'd
need at least three dozen radium flares for our night scenes; they cost
close around twenty dollars a dozen. And one or two light
diffusers,--that's just to get us started with an outfit, remember. Then
there'd be our transportation to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I know that
country, and I know what I can do there. I'd hit straight for a ranch I
know betwe