ve discarded, but which he must keep in
his hand and play with what skill he might. He was not the care-free
Charming Billy Boyle who had made prune pie for Flora Bridger in the
line-camp. He looked older, and there were chronic creases between his
eyebrows, and it was seldom that he asked tunefully

"Can she make a punkin pie, Billy boy, Billy Boy?"

He had too much on his mind for singing anything.

It was when he had gathered the first train load of big, rollicky
steers for market and was watching Jim Bleeker close the stockyard
gate on the tail of the herd at Tower, the nearest shipping point,
that the disagreeable element came in the person of Dill and the news
he bore.

He rode up to where Billy, just inside the wing of the stockyards,
was sitting slouched over with one foot out of the stirrup, making a
cigarette. Dill did not look so much the tenderfoot, these days. He
sat his horse with more assurance, and his face was brown and had that
firm, hard look which outdoor living brings.

"I looked for you in yesterday or the day before, William," he said,
when Billy had greeted him with a friendly, "Hello, Dilly!" and one of
his illuminating smiles.

"I'm ready to gamble old Brown has been and gone and run the creek dry
on yuh again," bantered Billy, determined at that moment to turn his
back on trouble.

"No, William, you would lose. The creek is running almost its normal
volume of water. I dislike very much to interfere with your part of
the business, William, but under present conditions I feel justified
in telling you that you must not ship these cattle just now. I have
been watching the market with some uneasiness for a month. Beef
has been declining steadily until now it ranges from two-ninety to
three-sixty, and you will readily see, William, that we cannot afford
to ship at that figure. For various reasons I have not obtruded
business matters upon you, but I will now state that it is vitally
important that we realize enough from the beef shipments to make our
fall payment on the mortgage and pay the interest on the remainder. It
would be a great advantage if we could also clear enough for the next
year's running expenses. Have you any idea how much beef there will be
to ship this fall?"

"I figured on sixty or seventy cars," said Billy. Instinctively he had
pulled himself straight in the saddle to meet this fresh emergency.

Dill, with a pencil and an old letter from his pocket, was doing some