l, ain't I doing it?" asked Laddie. "Look at all these acres and
acres of Jim-dandy plowing!"

"Don't!" I begged. "Why don't you go over there?"

"No use, Chicken," said Laddie. "You see her exact stipulation was
that I must CHANGE MY OCCUPATION before I came again."

"What does she want you to do?"

"Law, I think. Unfortunately, I showed her a letter from Jerry asking
me to enter his office this fall."

"Hadn't you better do it, Laddie?"

"How would you like to be shut in little, stuffy rooms, and set to
droning over books and papers every hour of the day, all your life, and
to spend the best of your brain and bodily strength straightening out
other men's quarrels?"

"Oh Laddie, you just couldn't!" I cried.

"Precisely!" said Laddie. "I just couldn't, and I just won't!"

"What can you do?"

"I might compromise on stock," he said. "I could follow the same
occupation as her father, and with better success. Neither he nor his
men get the best results from horses. They don't understand them,
especially the breeds they are attempting to handle. Most Arab
horsemen are tent dwellers. They travel from one oasis to another with
their stock. At night their herds are gathered around them as
children. As children they love them, pet them, feed them. Each is
named for a divinity, a planet or a famous ruler, and the understanding
between master and beast is perfect. Honestly, Little Sister, I think
you have got to believe in the God of Israel, in order to say the right
word to an Arabian horse; and I know you must believe in the God of
love. A beast of that breed, jerked, kicked, and scolded is a fine
horse ruined. If I owned half the stock Mr. Pryor has over there, I
could put it in such shape for market that I could get twice from it
what his men will."

"Are Thomas and James rough with the horses?"

"'Like master, like man,'" quoted Laddie. "They are! They are foolish
with the Kentucky strain, and fools with the Arab; and yet, that
combination beats the world. But I must get on with the P.C. job."

He slid from the fence, took a drink from his water jug, and pulled a
handful of grass for each horse. As he stood feeding them, I almost
fell from the top rail.

"Laddie!" I whispered. "Look! Mr. Pryor is halfway across the field
on Ranger."

"So?" said Laddie. "Now I wonder----"

"Shall I go?"

"No indeed!" said Laddie. "Stay right where you are. It can't be
anything of much importance.