, being all on account of their cussed carelessness. I can't see
how you're a bit to blame. Only I do think you might have noticed your
night horse didn't make any fuss. Usual, horses are scared stiff of
bears. But they'd got plumb used to these."

"Didn't keep up no horse that night," said Bob miserably.

"Look here!" said Hales. "What's the use of letting them other fellows
know anything about it? Mr. Dines and me, we won't tell. This young
man can send his bearskins over east, Tularosa or somewhere, and keep
his lip buttoned up. No one need be ever the wiser. Bears change their
range whenever they get good and ready. Nobody need know but what they
just took a notion to light out."

"Say, that's the right idea!" said Johnny, brightening. "That'll save
a heap of trouble. Boys are liable to think the round-up scared 'em
out--as might happen, easy. That ain't all either. That plan will not
only save Hi and Foamy a heap o' grief, but it won't be no bad thing
for Bob Gifford. I'll tell you honest, Bob--the Bar Cross will near
devil the life out of you if this thing ever gets out."

"That's good dope, kid," said Hales kindly. "No use cryin' over spilt
milk."

"Let's drop it then. I'll get rid of the bear hides."

"That's right. Talkin' about it only makes you feel bad. Forget it.
Here, I'll give you something else to think about. You two seem to be
all right."

Hales drew rein, with a long appraising look at the younger man. It
seemed to satisfy him; he rode a little to one side, facing a wooded
sugar-loaf hill in the middle of the rough gap leading east to
Rosebud. He waved his hand. A crackling of brush made instant answer;
high above them a horseman came from cover and picked his way down the
steep hill.

"Friend of mine," explained Hales, returning. "He is sort of watering
at night, just now. No hanging matter--but he wouldn't have showed up
unless I waved him the O. K. And he is sure one hungry man. It's for
him I bought the horse."

Johnny reflected a little. This was no new or startling procedure.
Besides being the most lonesome spot in a thinly settled country, with
a desert on each side, and with Engle, thirty miles, for next
neighbor, the horse camp had other advantages. It was situated in the
Panhandle of Socorro County; a long, thin strip of rough mountain, two
townships wide and five long, with Sierra County west, Dona Ana to the
south, Lincoln and Otero on the east; a convenient juxtaposition in
ce