he center
of it?" said Obed. "Seems to me there's about as much chance of one as
the other."

"No, there ain't," said the Panther. "There ain't no town, but there are
huts. I've rid over this country for twenty year an' I know somethin'
about it. There are four or five settlers' cabins in the valleys of the
creeks runnin' down to the Rio Grande. I had a mighty good dinner at one
of 'em once. They're more'n likely to be abandoned now owin' to the war
an' their exposed situation, but if the roofs haven't fell in any of 'em
is good enough for us."

"Then you lead on," said Obed. "The quicker we get there the happier all
of us will be."

"I may not lead straight, but I'll get you there," replied the Panther
confidently.

Roylston, at his own urgent insistence, dismounted and walked a little
while. When he betook himself again to the back of Old Jack he spoke
with quiet confidence.

"I'm regaining my strength rapidly," he said. "In a week or two I shall
be as good as I ever was. Meanwhile my debt to you, already great, is
accumulating."

The Panther laughed.

"You don't owe us nothin'," he said. "Why, on this frontier it's one
man's business to help another out of a scrape. If we didn't do that we
couldn't live."

"Nevertheless, I shall try to pay it," said Roylston, in significant
tones.

"For the moment we'll think of that hut we're lookin' for," said the
Panther.

"It will be more than a hut," said Will, who was of a singularly
cheerful nature. "I can see it now. It will be a gorgeous palace. Its
name will be the Inn of the Panther. Menials in gorgeous livery will
show us to our chambers, one for every man, where we will sleep between
white sheets of the finest linen."

"I wonder if they will let us take our rifles to bed with us," said Ned,
"because in this country I don't feel that I can part with mine, even
for a moment."

"That is a mere detail which we will discuss with our host," said Obed.
"Perhaps, after you have eaten of the chicken and drunk of the wine at
this glorious Inn of the Panther, you will not be so particular about
the company of your rifle, Mr. Fulton."

The Panther uttered a cry of joy.

"I've got my b'arin's exactly now," he said. "It ain't more'n four miles
to a cabin that I know of, an' if raiders haven't smashed it it'll give
us all the shelter we want."

"Then lead us swiftly," said Obed. "There's no sunset or anything to
give me mystical lore, but the coming of that cabin