n' I reckon there's some feels the same way now. Speshully when
the courts back up a man like Plimsoll. Lead's cheaper than rope, but
somehow it ain't so convincin'."

Brandon changed the subject after he had spoken, but it was plain that
he and his companions had not given up the matter; clear also that they
were sure of Plimsoll's guilt and laying plans to trap him. They stayed
until the next morning and departed.

"That man Brandon's got some trick up his sleeve to trap Plimsoll," said
Sam, watching them ride off. "He ain't quite got it fixed up yet to suit
himself but it's a good un."

"He's got brains," commented Sandy, rubbing Grit's ears. The collie had
picked up since Sandy's return, sensing some connection with his
mistress closer than that of Mormon and Sam. He would feed only from
Sandy's hand and attached himself to the latter almost as permanently as
his shadow. "So has Jim Plimsoll. I ain't hankerin' fo' another man to
clean him up befo' I get my own chance. But that bunch sure mean
business."

The incident was forgotten as the round-up days grew near, with frosty
mornings when the mountains looked as flat as if they had been profiled
from cardboard and stuck up along the horizon--until the lifting sun
modeled them with shadows--with sweltering noons tapering slowly off to
cool nights while horses raced after the flying cattle, driving and
cutting out, and so to the corral brandings, where the three partners
found their increase better than they had anticipated.

Molly was not to come home at Christmas after all. She formed a
friendship, the first close one she had made, and Barbara Redding
advised that the invitation extended by this new acquaintance to spend
the holidays be accepted. There had been plans of a Christmas tree and
a celebration, but the gifts were boxed and sent off. Others arrived
from the East in exchange, a collar for Grit, a cigarette case for
Sandy, a necktie for Mormon and a three-decked harmonica for Sam. There
was a picture too, not so much of a girl but a young woman, a somewhat
wistful look in her eyes, but a firm-lipped, resolute-chinned young
woman for all that, who smiled out at them frankly and confidently. It
was signed

A Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year
from the Mascotte of the * * *

MOLLY.

"I dunno about the merry Christmas," said Mormon. "We're prosperous
enough, short of bein' profiteers. Molly's gettin' to be