k in case the old man grows worse.
He's a tricky beast; but I reckon you'll handle him without any too
much trouble. The only drawback is that I can't furnish a saddle."

"If you can spare the pony, I'll get along without the fixings," Dick
replied, his eyes gleaming with delight; for with such a steed he
would be able to visit the town at short notice, if it should become
necessary.

"I'm allowin' that I've got a saddle he can have for a spell," Mr.
Mansfield replied thoughtfully; and although Dick insisted that there
was really no need of one, it was brought out.

The loungers took it upon themselves to see that the broncho was
properly harnessed; and now that it was no longer necessary to limit
the weight of the supplies, the shopkeeper suggested that the amount
of flour and bacon be doubled.

"Will ten dollars be enough to pay for it?" Dick asked.

"We'll make a charge of it, seein's you're goin' to work for Bob
Mason. You can give me an order on him after you've been here a spell,
an' it'll be the same thing as cash."

"Now you're doin' the square thing, Mansfield," Mason said
approvingly; and despite Dick's protests that he preferred to pay his
way so long as he had the money, the matter was thus arranged.

"You are sure I can earn enough to pay for what we'll need to eat
between now and spring?" the boy asked doubtfully.

"I'm allowing from what I've seen, that you'll earn a man's wages, an'
that'll be thirty dollars a month. If your father is anything like
you, I'll guarantee he can find work enough to support the family; an'
Antelope Spring is needin' settlers mighty bad."

The supply of provisions and the medicines were packed in a bag,
divided into two portions of equal weight that they might be carried
over the saddle, and then Dick was ready to mount.

He realized fully how kind the people of the town had been to him, and
was eager to say that which should give token of the gratitude in his
heart; but the words refused to come at his bidding.

He stammered in the attempt to speak, cleared his throat nervously,
and tried again,--

"You've been mighty good, all hands, an' I'm thinkin' it'll help daddy
pull through. I wish--I wish"--

"That's all right, my son," Bob Mason interrupted. "We've got a good
idea of what you want to say, an' you can let it go at that. As a
general thing we don't get stuck on kids; but when one flashes up in
the style you have, we cotton to him mightily. You can push