ned no parlor ornament!

That was the last day when Curly reported to the group at the side of
Whiteman's corral. "They're gone, up to both knees now," said he,
gloomily. "The finish ain't far off. You all come on over across the
_arroyo_ with me, and if you can find a sign showin' how this thing
happened, I'll make you a present of the whole shootin' match."

It was thus that Curly, Dan Anderson, Doc Tomlinson, McKinney, and
Learned Counsel rose and adjourned across the _arroyo_. They found
Suzanne and Arabella industriously carrying in aprons full of pinon
chips for the kitchen stove.

The clean-swept room at which the visitors entered was the neatest one
in Heart's Desire. The tall, narrow fireplace of clay in the corner of
the other room was swept clean, spick and span. A chair stood exactly
against the wall. The parlor table--ah, appalling spectacle! the
parlor table, bare and empty, held upon its surface no object of any
sort whatever!

"They're gone!" cried Curly, "plumb gone!" His hand instinctively
reached toward his hip, and he cast a swift glance upon Bill, the
parrot, who sat blinking at the edge of the table.

"All over now!" remarked Bill. "All over! Too late! Quork!"

"Rope him and throw him," urged Doc Tomlinson, "Search his person. We
got to look in his teeth."

"Not necessary," said Dan Anderson. "He hasn't got any teeth." The
entire party looked with enmity at Bill, but the latter turned upon
them so brave and unflinching a front that none dared question his
honor.

Dan Anderson, his hands in his pockets, turned and strolled alone into
the other room, and thence out of the door into the sunlight, where the
twins were still continuing their unwonted industry at the chip pile.
He stood and looked at them, saying no word, but with a certain smile
on his face. A corner of each apron fell down, spilling the chips upon
the ground. The other hand of each twin was raised as though to wipe a
furtive tear. Dan Andersen put out his arms to them.

"Come here, little women," he said softly, and took them in his arms.
One chubby face rested against each side of his own. His long arms
tightened around them protectingly. Tears now began to wet his cheeks,
falling from the eyes of the twins.

"You--you won't tell?" whispered Suzanne, in his right ear, and
Arabella begged as much upon the left.

"No," said Dan Anderson, hugging them the tighter, "I won't tell."

"It's gone!" said Suzan