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But the area in front of the saloon was significantly vacant. "Now if Dad had only been there," soliloquized Pan. "That might have put some life in him." He sauntered down into the street, and as he went he heard the jangle of spurs behind him. Blinky and Gus covering his rear! Presently, beyond the circle of yellow light, they joined him, one on each side.
He knew them. Warmhearted, simple, elemental, they responded in different ways, but with the same fire. Gus Hans looked his championship while Blinky raved and swore. "Then you're both with me?" asked Pan, tersely. "Mind, it's no fair deal, my getting your support here for helping you with a wild horse drive." "Fair, hell!" returned Blinky, forcibly. "It ain't like you to insult cowboys."
"Old ass!" he muttered; "his chop whiskers look like the chops of a Southdown ram and he's got the wits of one. Look here, Stephen, I hear you fell into no end of a scrape in town " "Tu quoque, Blinky? Oh, read the newspapers and let it go at that!" "Just as you like old chap!" returned his lordship unabashed. "All I meant was anything Voucher and I can do of course " "You're very good.
At length, however, Pan and Blinky arrived at the extreme end of the capelike bluff. It stood higher than their first lookout. Pan, who arrived at a vantage point ahead of Blinky, let out a stentorian yell. Whereupon his companion came running. "Hey, what's eatin' you?" he panted. "Rattlesnakes or wild hosses?" "Look!" exclaimed Pan, waving his hand impressively.
"Fine string, Blinky," said Pan, with glistening eyes. "Is that sorrel the one I can't ride?" "Yep, thet's him. Ain't he a real hoss?" "Best of the bunch, at first sight. Blinky, are you sure you're not giving me your own horse?" "Me? I don't care nothin' aboot him," declared Blinky, lying glibly. "Shore he's the orfullest pitchin' son-of-a-gun I ever forked. But mebbe you can ride him."
The towel had not been clean before this onslaught. Afterward it was unrecognizable. Gus cooked breakfast which, judged from the attack upon it, was creditable to him. "Wal, our hosses are heah," said Blinky, cheerfully. "Reckon I was afeared they'd jump the fence. We may have a little hell on the start." "Blink, you don't aim to tie up their feet again, do you?" inquired Pan anxiously. "Nope.
The little spell of morbid doubt and worry that had settled upon him did not abide in the clear rosy light of day. Hope and thrill resurged in him. Blinky and his partner soon appeared, and quarreled over which should carry Pan's baggage out to their quarters. Pan decidedly preferred the locality to that he had just left.
It required more patience and dexterity to hobble her. "Pard, this little bay is fer your gurl, huh?" queried Blinky, leaning in his saddle. "You guessed right, Blink," answered Pan. "Little Bay! that's her name." "Wal, now you got thet off your chest s'pose you climb on your hoss an' look heah," added Blinky.
Then Blinky ran in with a gun in each hand, and his wild aspect most powerfully supplemented Pan's furious energy and menace. "Fork them hosses, you !" yelled Blinky. Death for more of them quivered in the balance. As one man, Hardman's riders rushed with thudding boots and tinkling spurs to mount their horses.
They drove him, they relayed him, they cornered him, and then as he bolted to get between Gus and Pan, Blinky wheeled his horse and by a mighty effort headed him with a lasso. That time both wild stallion and lassoer bit the dust. Gus was on the spot in a twinkling, and as the animal heaved to his feet, it was only to fall into another loop.
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