e Texan's grasp: "Oh,
I--I'm sorry. I----"

"You don't need to be," the man whispered. "You chose the best of the
two." He indicated Endicott with a slight jerk of the head. "You've
got a real man there--an' they're oncommon hard to find. An' now, if
you've got some grub along suppose we tie into it. I'm hungry enough
to gnaw horn!"

As Alice proceeded to set out the food, the Texan's eyes for the first
time strayed to the horses. "How much did Long Bill Kearney soak you
for the loan of his saddle-horses?"

"Nothing," answered Endicott, "and he supplied us with the grub, too."

"He, what?"

"Fact," smiled the other, "he demurred a little, but----"

"Long Bill's the hardest character in Choteau County."

Endicott glanced at his swollen knuckles: "He is hard, all right."

Tex eyed him in amazement, "Win, you didn't--punch his head for him!"

"I did--and his stomach, too. We were nearly starved, and he refused
us food. Told us to go back where we came from. So I reached for him
and he dozed off."

"But where was his guns?"

"I took them away from him before I tied him up."

"Where is he now?"

"Tied up. He called me a lot of names because I turned the horses into
his alfalfa. They were hungry and they enjoyed it, but Bill nearly
blew up. Then we got dinner and took the horses and came away."

"You're the luckiest man out of hell! You doggoned pilgrim, you!" Tex
roared with laughter: "Why accordin' to dope, he'd ought to just et you
up."

"He whined like a puppy, when we left him, for fear we would get lost
and he would starve to death. He is yellow."

"His kind always is--way down in their guts. Only no one ever made him
show it before."

"How far did we miss the water-hole last night?" asked Endicott, as he
and Tex sat talking after the others had sought their blankets.

"About two miles. The wind drifted us to the east. Bat didn't get far
'til his horse went down, so he bled him like we did, and holed up 'til
the storm quit. Then, after things cleared up, we got here about the
same time. The water ain't much--but it sure did taste good." For a
long time the two lay close together looking up at the million winking
stars. Tex tossed the butt of a cigarette into the grey dust. "She's
a great girl, Win. Game plumb to her boot heels."

"She is, that. I've loved her for a long time--since way back in my
college days--but she wouldn't have me."

"You hadn't earnt her. Life's