t's all over
sweepings, and I'm the he-maid that's going to dust you off. Hold still,
now."

So Pat, after taking a step toward Stephen, who now was stroking him
tenderly, held very still, not only under the soothing caress, but under
the operation--for such was the cleaning--since he was gritty beyond
belief. Also, after the operation he felt immeasurably better, and
better still when Stephen led him to a tiny stream and he had relieved
his thirst. But that was not all of joy. Turned loose with the other
horses, he fell to grazing eagerly, actually finding it good, and once
lifting a long and shrill nicker in gratitude for this change in his
condition. Nor did his delight stop here. With camp broken, and his
young master, instead of returning him to the lead-rope, bridling and
saddling him awkwardly with one hand, he set out along the trail at a
gait so brisk that it brought a startled exclamation from the young man,
who promptly pulled him down. But though he was forced to keep a slow
gait, yet frequently during the afternoon, conscious of his fresh coat
and the sense of buoyancy it gave him, he flung up his head and nickered
loud and joyfully. Also, with night once more descending, and the stars
twinkling in the blue-black heavens, and the sheen of a rising moon
flooding the desert, he moved about among the other horses with a vigor
that was almost insolence, seizing tufts of grass wherever he saw them,
heedless of others' rights.

Around the fire sat or sprawled the men. Two of them were industriously
mending, one a shirt, the other a bridle. The Professor and the man with
the scrubby beard were complacently smoking, while Stephen, glad to
stretch out after the day's ride with an arm that constantly distressed
him, was reclining upon a blanket, staring into the flames and conjuring
up in their leaping tongues numerous soothing pictures. As he sat there
the man with the beard suddenly addressed him.

"Doc," he drawled, removing his pipe from between whiskers that glinted
in the light of the fire, "now that you've got him, what are you
thinking of doing with that horse?"

"I'll take him back," replied Stephen, pleasantly.

The other was silent. "Shore!" he rejoined, after a moment. "But take
him back where?"

"Where he belongs."

There was further silence. "Excuse me!" finally exclaimed the other. "I
was thinking as mebbe you'd take him whence he came."

Stephen sat erect and looked at the other. He was smok