I Conquered""

ion i

did not delay activity. He commenced with the boy as s

g really, but taking orders from Jed as though the w

ded fences from early

A pleasing sensation! One of the few truly wholesome delights he had ever experienced. Danny thought about it with almost childish happiness; then, letting his mind return

ything else to speed recovery. Those first two nights he was between covers bef

ide, Danny watching Jed put a new

ve to wear boots, to be sure. Them things you got on

an beside him, who hammered and cut and grunted while he worked as though his v

Jed Avery found the encompassing happiness which comes to those who understand, happiness of the same sort he had felt back there at Colt when he saw that there was a human being who needed he

finally. "I'll shut the corral gate. You light th' candle, wil

nd groped his way along for the shelf. He found it after a moment and fumbled along for the candle Jed had said was there. H

asked Jed, comin

e shelf. In a moment a match flared; the cold wick of the candle t

with the old horror. The hand held near his lips shook, and he

uck in the neck o

come. That terror was back again, shattering his sense

ed near

ttle candle," he said slowly, and

hed the bottl

ees were weak under him. Such was the strength of the tentacles which reached up to stay his struggles and to drag him back into

boy's shoulder and gaz

anner it had. "Most men touches it in th' dark. But don't you see what this bottle's for? Don't

der, and the little old rancher shook young Danny Le

w-" Then he turned away quickly and smo

get to be a top hand, we've got to quit foolin' around home an' get to learn th' country. They's a lot

, busily thump

eager for activity, but not for the sake of the new experiences in themselves. That gnawing was again in his throat, tearing his flesh, it seemed, and

trail, and on a high ridge, where country rolled and tossed about them for imm

st was the S Bar S Ranch, the center of the country's cattle activity, and over west, on Sand Creek, a dozen miles' ride across the hills an

ean to Wyoming! We're on th' outskirts of settlements. South of th' river it's all ranches, but

because the turmoil kept up within him, and even the unbroken talk of Jed, giving him an

d be branded. Jed's low, warning "H-s-s-t! There they are!" set his heart pounding wildly, and he listened eagerly t

sting game. The horses came fast and faster. Now and then to his ears floated Jed's repeated cry: "Keep goin'! Keep ahe

his spirit was of the sort that would not question when

, kept urging speed. Straight on for the ranch he headed, and wh

!" cried Jed. "Keep go

his mount, while the nose of the lead

pring had been taken from them before. The colts hung close to their mothers, snorting and

eyes s

But, say, will these horses al

s somebody goin' ahead of 'em, they'll follow-follow right through high water! But once let 'em get past th' rider who's

has got to give that what's leadin' 'em such a run t

and agreed with a nod as Jed walked over t

ning round, "I like

d up quickl

in the simple assertion

bust down off a point. No, sir. Not such a ride for us old heads, but for

incense, holy with the holiness of beauty. It was one of those mountain days when the immensity of nature becomes so obvious and so potent that even the beasts leave off their hunting or their grazing to gaze into wondrous distances. The sage is green and brash in the near sunlight, soft and purple out yonder; the hills sha

l ridges. Now and then they saw each other, but for

was considering the advisability of mounting the ridge above the gulch int

egistered the sight. The boy searched quickly, and over ag

ered. "Jed said there were two

hudder, then moved a step backward and stood stil

ill pulsing from his heart. Shrill it was, but not sharply cut, wavering but not breaking; alarm, warning, concern

ce. There, halfway between the mares and the crown of the ridge he stood, out on a little rim-rock

ndid in breadth and depth, indicating superb strength, endurance, high courage. Danny looked with a surge of appreciation at the arch of th

ot and smote the ledge on which he stood as though wrath rose that a mere man should ride into his presence, and he would demand departure or h

p the rise a dozen yards, and stopped to turn and lo

tones as the black leader bounded up the h

and then, in a cry which echo

e animal, young and not yet fully developed, doing his best in making up the ridge, labored effectively, perhaps drawn on b

top. But he was many lengths behind when the last mare disappeared over the rim. He fanned his pony again, and the beast gru

il blowing about him. His strong, full, ever delicate body quivered with the singing spirit of confidence within him and c

n stretch that fine nose out to the flank of a lagging mare, and saw the animal thro

brushed under the cedars, settling firmly to the seat when the animal leaped over rocks. His shirt was open at the neck, and his throat was chilled with the swift rush of air, whil

effort after that first crazy break down the ridge. The last Danny saw of him was with head turned backward, nose lifted, as

st. His legs were uncertain under him, and he knew that his pulses r

at a trot. His face was radiant. "Well,

t of th' rest of us! Mebby you'll chase horses here for years, but you'll always have an eye out for just one thing-th' Captain. Yo

ne that we've only h'isted ourselves up to where we

Danny, looking into the sunset. "I didn't know I was fo

A fresh incentive had come to him with this awakening admiration, inciting him to emulation. The spirit of

vices would henceforth be the endeavor to achieve, to compass some worthy object. This was his aim: to be a leader to

Danny Lenox felt lifted above himself, felt stronger than human

ettin' childish! I've knowed you less than a month. I don't even know who you was when you come. We don't ask men about theirs

somethin' had got you down. I knowed for sure what it was when you stopped by th' saloon there. I knowed how honest you was wi

a thing like that horse touches a man off it's a sign he's th' right kind, th' kind that wants to do things for th' sake of knowin' his own streng

dozen strides there

here outfit, which ain't never branded a colt that didn't belong to it, which ain't n

ey, as you might say, put it on me, I felt like I was wearin' some sort of medal. I feel just like makin' you

alked close to the old man, his face quiet under the new consciousness of how far he must go to approach this new ideal. He took t

back: "Get to bed, Young VB; they's that ahead of you to-m