e;--

"'Is this a sheep outfit I see before me, or is it the remnants of the
former cow camp on the Bar T?' He was right sarcastic. 'Doc,' says
he, 'explain this here to me.' But the Doc, he couldn't. Says the boss
to him at last, 'The _right_ time to do the explainin' is before the
hoss race is over, and not after,' says he. 'That's the only kind of
science that goes hereafter on the Bar T,' says he.

"I reckon the boss was feelin' a little riled, because he had two
hundred on Pinto hisself. A cross-eyed horse shore can make a sight of
trouble," Curly sighed in conclusion; "yet I bought Pinto for four
dollars, and--sometimes, anyway--he's the best horse in my string down
at Carrizosy, ain't he, Mac?"

In the thoughtful silence following this tale, Tom Osby knocked his
pipe reflectively against a cedar log. "That's the way with the
railroad," he said. "It's goin' to come in herewith one eye on the
gold mines and the other on the town--and there won't be no
blind-bridle up in front of old Mr. Ingine, neither. If we got as much
sense as the Bar T feller, we'll do our explainin' before, and not
after the hoss race is over. Before I leave for Vegas, I want to see
one of you ostypothetic lawyers about that there railroad outfit."

CHAPTER XVI

THE PARTITION OF HEARTS DESIRE

_Concerning Real Estate, Love, Friendship, and Other Good and Valuable
Considerations_

"You see, it's just this-a-way," began Tom Osby, the morning after
Curly's osteopathic horse saga; "I've got to go on up to Vegas after a
load of stuff, and I'll be gone a couple of weeks. Now, you know, from
what we heard down at Sky Top about this railroad, a heap of things can
happen in two weeks. Them fellers ain't showin' their hands any, but for
all we know their ingineers may come in any day, and start in to doin'
things."

"They've got to make arrangements first," replied Dan Anderson.

"That's all right; and so ought we to make arrangements. We seen this
place first. Now, Dan--" and he extended a gnarled and hairy
hand--"you've always done like you said you would. You took care of me
down there to Sky Top. I want you to keep on a-takin' care of me,
whether I'm here or not. Now, there's my house and yard, right at the
head of the canon, where they've got to come if they get in. That little
old place, and my little old team, is about all I've got in the world.
If old Mr. Railroad comes up this _arroyo_, what happens to me? You