ck to my claim, and it's one hundred to one that I wouldn't
get back, too. And if I lose, mind you, _if_, I won't have any use for
it. I picked that nugget up in the middle of the damnedest desert God
ever made, and when I got off it I was loco for a week. I won't tell
any friend of mine where it is because I want my friends to go on drawing
their breath. I need my friends a whole lot, and that's why I don't tell
you where it is. I was saving that for my enemies. Two have gone after
it already, and haven't been heard of since."

"Well, you are the first man who ever told me that gold isn't worth going
after, and you have convinced me that in your case you are right," laughed
the foreman.

"You wouldn't have to be told if you knew that desert as I do," replied
The Orphan.

"How was the sheriff last night?" asked Blake. "Or didn't you notice,
being too much occupied in your claim?"

The Orphan looked at him and then laughed softly: "He was the same as
ever--the best man I ever knew. But how in thunder do you know about my
claim? How did you know what I meant? I thought that I had covered that
trail pretty well."

Blake put his hand on his friend's shoulders and gravely looked at him:
"Son, having eyes, I see; having ears, I hear; having brains, I think.
If you have been fooling yourself that you are on a quiet trail, just
listen to this: There ain't a man who knows you well that don't know what
you're playing for, even Bill had it all mapped out the second time he
saw you. And most of us wish you luck. You're not a man who needs help,
but if you _do_ need it, you know where to come for it."

"Thank you, Blake," replied The Orphan, eagerly filling his lungs with the
crisp air. "That's why I ain't hankering for that gold--I'm too blamed
busy making my own."

"Well, what I wanted to speak to you about is this," said the foreman,
thinking quickly as to how to say it. "Old man Crawford got me to promise
that I'd pick up a herd of cows for him before fall. Now, I would just
as soon do it myself as not, but if you want to try your hand at it, go
ahead. He wants about five thousand, to be delivered in five herds, a
thousand each, at his corrals. He won't pay any more than the regular
price for them, and the more you can drop the price the better he will
like it, of course. They must be good, healthy cattle and be delivered
to him before payment is made. What do you say?"

"I say that it's a go!" cried The Orphan. "I've h