town. The boys gets kind of restless--"

"Boys? Ain't you alone?"

"Hell, no!" replied Williams disgustedly. "I wish I was! I got four
pigeon-toed, bow-legged, bat-eared Moonstoners down in that meadow, just
itchin' mad to cut loose. And they ain't sayin' a word, which is
suspicious. Worryin' across the old dry spot the last three days has
kind of het 'em up. And then hearin' about Collie...."

"How'd you come to have so much comp'ny?" queried Overland.

"I was plumb fool enough to read that letter of yours to 'em. They all
like Collie first-rate. Better than I calculated on. The boss talked
turkey to 'em, but he had to let 'em come. He did everything he could to
hold 'em, knowin' what was in the wind."

"And they quit?"

"Quit? Every red-eyed bat of 'em. Bud and Pars and Billy and Miguel.
Told the boss they quit, because me bein' foreman they would do as I
says, but if they quit I wasn't their foreman any longer, and they would
do as they dum please. They had the nerve to tell me that I could come
along if I was wishful."

"Kind of bad for Stone, eh?"

"The Price boys are holdin' down the ranch. You see, Jack, it hit us
kind of hard, Collie ridin' away one mornin', and next thing your
letter that he was down and pretty nigh out. The boys didn't just like
that."

Overland nodded. "Well, Brand, I guess I'll step down and look 'em
over."

"Only one thing, Jack. I feel kind of responsible for them boys, even if
I ain't their foreman just now. Don't you go to spielin' to 'em and get
'em thinkin' foolish. They're about ready to shoot up a town, if
necessary."

"Been hittin' the booze any?"

"Some. But not bad."

"All right. I don't want to say only 'How!' and thank 'em for Collie. If
I say more than three words after that, you can have my hat."

"It don't take three words, sometimes," said Williams, somewhat
ambiguously.

"Leave it to me," said Overland, still more ambiguously.

* * * * *

Ringed round their little fire in the meadow sat or lay the Moonstone
riders. While crossing the desert Williams had sketched a few of the red
episodes in Overland's early career. These pleased the riders mightily.
They were anxious to meet Red Jack Summers. When Williams did introduce
him, they were rather silent, asking after Collie in monosyllables. They
seemed strangely reticent.

Both Williams and Overland felt an inexplicable tensity in the
situation.

Miguel, the young Mexica