d forth:

"Leave me alone with a rope an' a saddle,
Fold my spurs under my haid!
Give me a can of them sweet, yaller peaches,
'Cause why? My true-love is daid!"

"Bad as all that; is it, Slim?" asked the other, who, now that he had
partly emerged from the cloud of dust, could be seen as a lad of about
sixteen. He, like the other, older rider, was attired cowboy fashion.

"Eh? What's that, Bud?" inquired the lanky one, seeming to arouse as
if from a day dream. "See suthin'?"

"Nope. I was just sort of remarking about that sad song, and----"

"Oh, shucks! _That_ wa'n't sad!" declared Slim Degnan, foreman of the
Diamond X ranch. "Guess I wa'n't really payin' much attention to what
I was singin', but if you want a real sad lament----"

"No, I don't!" laughed Bud Merkel, whose father was the owner of
Diamond X ranch. "Not that I blame you for feeling sort of down and
out," he added.

"Oh, I don't feel _bad_, Bud!" came the hasty rejoinder. "We did have
more'n a ride than I figgered on, but I don't aim to put up no kick.
It's all in the day's work. You don't seem to mind it."

"I should say not! We had a bully time. I'd spend another night out
in the open if we had to. I like it!"

"Yes, you seem to take to it like a duck does to water," added Slim.
"But it's a shame to mention ducks in the same chapter with this
atmosphere! Zow hippy! But it's hot an' dusty an' thirsty! Come
along there, you old hunk of jerked beef!" he added to his pony, giving
a gentle reminder with the spurs and pulling on the reins. The pony
made a feeble attempt to increase its gait, but it was no more than an
attempt.

The animal that was ridden by Bud--a pinto--started to follow the
example of the other.

"Regular mud-turtle gallop," commented the foreman.

"They'll go faster when they top the rise, and see the corral,"
commented Bud.

"An' smell water! That's what I want, a long, sizzling, sozzling drink
of water!" cried Slim, whose name fitted him better than did his
clothes. Then he broke forth again with:

"Oh, leave me alone with a rope an' a saddle----"

Slowly the riders plodded along. The sun seemed to grow more hot and
the dust more thick. As they approached a hill, beyond which lay the
corral and ranch buildings of Diamond X, Bud drew rein, thus halting
his pony.

"Let's give 'em a breather before we hit the hill," he suggested to the
foreman.

"I'm agreeable, son," was the foreman's eas