was cast upon the floor by the strong sunlight
which shone upon the figure of a leaning spectator.

"Look!" cried the King of Gee-Whiz. "He's there! He's there!" He
slipped and sank to the floor, rolling over into an utter
insensibility. Curly put on his hat and stood looking down at him.

"Sand, sunshine, and sheep herdin'," said he, "will do up any man in
time. I'd 'a' made a good cow puncher out of this fellow, too, if I'd
got him in time. By Golly! I'll do it anyhow. I'll have Mac get him
a horse and saddle and put him to work. Any feller that kin shoot and
lie as good as him has got the makin' of a good cow puncher in him."

They turned over the King of Gee-Whiz gently, that he might rest more
easily, where he lay. His coat and waistcoat fell open. Underneath
them, upon the left side of his chest, appeared a small, dull-colored
cross of metal.

"For Valor"; Curly read the inscription with difficulty. "I knowed it;
I knowed he'd been a cow puncher sometime, and just went wrong."

"Great Scott!" exclaimed Uncle Jim Brothers, "that's the Victoria
Cross! This here's a V. C. man!"

"I don't know that brand. It ain't registered for this range," said
Curly.

"Well," said Billy Hudgens, philosophically gazing at the sleeper, "I
reckon 'D. T.' would be easier to understand, all things considered."

"If he ever comes to," said Curly, as he cast away through the open
door the contents of the pockets of the King of Gee-Whiz, "we'll try to
get him through the D. T. stage as well as the V. C., whatever that is,
and I reckon he's good for a job on the Carrizoso range. This country
can't afford to be too damned particular about a feller's past."

CHAPTER XXIII

PHILOSOPHY AT HEART'S DESIRE

_Showing further the Uncertainty of Human Events, and the Exceeding
Resourcefulness of Mr. Thomas Osby_

Tom Osby's freight wagon made not so bad a conveyance after all. The
first fifty miles of the journey were passed in comparative silence,
Constance and her father for the most part keeping to the shelter of
the wagon tilt. Tom Osby grew restless under solitude ere long, and
made friendly advances.

"You come up here and set by me on the seat," said he to Constance,
"and let the sun shine on you. The old man can stay back there on the
blankets with my kerosene can of whiskey if he still thinks his health
ain't good. Like enough he'll learn to get the potato off'n the snoot
of the can before long.

"