ains, plenty of them! And he'll make use of them
to the good of this country, too, before we get through with him."

Shields continued: "After he sic'd the chumps of the Cross Bar-8 on the
Apaches he shore raised the devil on the ranch and I was asked to go out
and run things, which I did, or rather thought I would do. Charley and I
and the two Larkin boys laid out on the plain all night, covered up with
sand, waiting for him to show up between us and the windows--and the first
thing I saw in the morning was Helen's flower pot here--it used to be
Margaret's--setting up on top of a pile of sand under my very nose where
he had stuck it while I waited for him--and blamed if he hadn't signed
his name in the sand at its base!" He suddenly turned to his sister:
"Tell Tom about him calling on you while I was waiting for him out on
the ranch, Helen."

Helen did so and the way she told it caused the women to look keenly at
her.

Blake laughed heartily: "Now, don't that beat all!" he cried.

"It don't beat this," responded the sheriff, turning again to Helen. "Tell
him about the stage coach, Sis."

"Well, I don't know much about the first part of it," she replied. "All I
remember is a terrible ride --oh, it was awful!" she cried, shuddering as
she remembered the tortures of the Concord. "But when we stopped and
after I managed to get out of the coach I saw the driver carrying a man on
his shoulders and coming toward us. He laid his burden down and revived
him--and he was a young man, and covered with blood." Then she paused:
"He was real nice and polite and didn't seem to think that he had done
anything out of the ordinary. Then we went on and he left us."

The sheriff laughed and leveled an accusing finger at her:

"You have left out a whole lot, Sis," he said affectionately. "Helen acted
just like the thoroughbred she is, Tom," he continued. "I guess Bill told
you all about it, for he's aired it purty well. Why, she even lost her
gold pin a-helping him!" and he grinned broadly.

Helen shot him a warning glance, but it was too late; Mary suddenly sat
bolt upright, her expression one of shocked surprise.

"Helen Shields!" she cried, "and I never thought of it before! How could
you do it! Why, that horrid man will show your pin and boast about it to
everybody! The idea! I'm surprised at you!"

"Tut, tut," exclaimed Shields. "I reckon that pin is all right. He might
find it handy some day to return it, it'll be a good exc