tle mat for him by
the fire, and at night he curl up there and sit with the family, just as
friendly!"

Gunner sniffed with disgust. "Well, I think that's a dirty Mexican way
to keep house; so there!"

Johnny shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps," he muttered. A Mexican learns
to dive below insults or soar above them, after he crosses the border.

By this time the south wall of the amphitheater cast a narrow shelf of
shadow, and the party withdrew to this refuge. Ray and Johnny began to
talk about the Grand Canyon and Death Valley, two places much shrouded
in mystery in those days, and Thea listened intently. Mrs. Tellamantez
took out her drawn-work and pinned it to her knee. Ray could talk well
about the large part of the continent over which he had been knocked
about, and Johnny was appreciative.

"You been all over, pretty near. Like a Spanish boy," he commented
respectfully.

Ray, who had taken off his coat, whetted his pocketknife thoughtfully on
the sole of his shoe. "I began to browse around early. I had a mind to
see something of this world, and I ran away from home before I was
twelve. Rustled for myself ever since."

"Ran away?" Johnny looked hopeful. "What for?"

"Couldn't make it go with my old man, and didn't take to farming. There
were plenty of boys at home. I wasn't missed."

Thea wriggled down in the hot sand and rested her chin on her arm. "Tell
Johnny about the melons, Ray, please do!"

Ray's solid, sunburned cheeks grew a shade redder, and he looked
reproachfully at Thea. "You're stuck on that story, kid. You like to get
the laugh on me, don't you? That was the finishing split I had with my
old man, John. He had a claim along the creek, not far from Denver, and
raised a little garden stuff for market. One day he had a load of melons
and he decided to take 'em to town and sell 'em along the street, and he
made me go along and drive for him. Denver wasn't the queen city it is
now, by any means, but it seemed a terrible big place to me; and when we
got there, if he didn't make me drive right up Capitol Hill! Pap got out
and stopped at folkses houses to ask if they didn't want to buy any
melons, and I was to drive along slow. The farther I went the madder I
got, but I was trying to look unconscious, when the end-gate came loose
and one of the melons fell out and squashed. Just then a swell girl, all
dressed up, comes out of one of the big houses and calls out, 'Hello,
boy, you're losing your melon