e trotted to his side. When the horse stood
saddled and bridled, the man turned to Patty: "Oh, about the
Samuelsons--do you know how to get to Big Porcupine?"

Patty shook her head. "No, but I guess I can find it."

"Give me a pencil and a piece of paper, and I'll show you in a
minute." Leaning over the table, the man sketched rapidly upon the
paper. "We'll say this is the Watts ranch, and mark it R. That's our
starting point. Then you follow down the creek to the ford--here, at
F. Then, instead of following the trail, you turn due east, and follow
up a little creek about ten miles. This arrow pointing upward means up
the creek. When you come to a sharp pinnacle that divides your
valley--we'll mark that [^] so--you take the right hand branch, and
follow it to the divide. That leads, let's see, southeast--we'll mark
it S. E. 3 to D; it runs about three miles to the divide which you
cross. Then you follow down another creek four or five miles until it
empties into Big Porcupine, 4 E. to P., and from there it's easy. Just
turn up Porcupine, pass Jack Pierce's ranch, and about five miles
farther on you come to Samuelson's. Do you get it?"

Patty watched every move of the pencil, as she listened to the explanation.
And when, a few moments later, the big "Bishop of All Outdoors" crossed the
ford and rode out of sight up the coulee that led to the trampled notch in
the hills, she threw herself down at the table and with eyes big with
excitement, drew her father's map from its silk envelope and spread it out
beside Christie's roughly sketched one. "What a fool I am not to have
guessed that those letters must stand for the points of the compass!" she
cried. "It ought to be plain as day, now." Carefully, she read the
cabalistic line at the bottom of the map. "SC 1 S 1 1/2 E 1 S [up arrow] to
[union symbol] 2 W to a. to b. Stake L. C. [zigzag symbol] center." Her
brow drew into a puzzled frown "SC," she repeated. "S stands for south, but
what does SC mean? SW or SE would be southwest, or southeast, but SC--?"
She glanced at the other map. "Let's see, Mr. Christie's first letter is
R--that stands for Watts' Ranch. SC must represent daddy's starting point,
of course! But, SC? Let's see, South Corner--south corner of _what?_ I wish
he'd put his letters right on the map like this one, instead of all in a
row at the bottom, then I might figure out what he was driving at. SC, SC,
SC, SC," she repeated over and over again, until the let