SIR:

"The undersigned has been at the location noted below for a term of
years and desires to make a change. If you have an opening for a good
all-around man, the undersigned would be willing to work for you. If
you would want a recommendation, you can address Amos Burroughs, of the
Pig-Pen Ranch, near Tombstone, where the undersigned is employed.

"Yours truly,

"DEAL SANDERSON."

Mary leaned forward in her chair and looked at Sanderson with eager,
questioning eyes. Sanderson stared vacantly back at her.

She held the letter up to him. "This is father's answer, telling the
man to come on. How on earth did you get hold of it?"

Sanderson had slumped down in his chair. He saw discovery and disgrace
in prospect. In the total stoppage of his thoughts no way of escape or
evasion suggested itself. At the outset he was to be exposed as a
miserable impostor.

He groaned, grinned vacuously at Mary, and again produced the
handkerchief, wiping away drops of perspiration that were twice as big
as those he had previously mopped off.

Mary continued to stare at him, repeating the question: "How did you
get it?"

Sanderson's composure began to return; his grin grew wider and more
intelligent, and at the sixth repetition of Mary's question he
answered, boldly:

"I wasn't goin' to tell you about that. You see, ma'am----"

"Mary!"

"You see, Mary, I was goin' to fool Brans--dad. I wrote, askin' him
for the job, an' I was intendin' to come on, to surprise him. But
before I told him who I was, I was goin' to feel him out, an' find out
what he thought of me. Then I got your letter, tellin' me he was dead,
an' so there wasn't any more use of tryin' to fool him."

"But that name, 'Sanderson?' That isn't your name, Will!"

"It was," he grinned. "When I left home I didn't want anybody to be
runnin' into me an' recognizin' me, so I changed it to Sanderson. Deal
Sanderson."

The girl's expression changed to delight; she sat erect and clapped her
hands.

"Oh," she said, "I wish father was here to listen to this! He thought
all along that you were going to turn out bad. If he only knew! Will,
you don't mean to tell me that you are the Sanderson that we all know
of here--that nearly everybody in the country has heard about; the man
who is called 'Square Deal' Sanderson by all his friends--and even by
his enemies--because of his determination to do right--and to make
everyone else do right too!"

Again S