told him, however, was that she was grateful for
his offer, and should be greatly pleased to have
him with her.

And thus it was that, on the morning of the
fifth day, Helen Richards and Stephen, Wainwright -- the
young man's name -- together with
two of Helen's close friends, were riding slowly
across the mesa, alert for any combination in
harness which might reveal the lost Pat. Helen
and Stephen were well in the lead, and Helen
had broken the silence by addressing Stephen as
a native, recalling their first meeting. Whereupon
the young man, smiling quietly, had wanted to
know why; but after she had explained that it
was because he had enlisted himself in the search
for a horse, adding that in doing so he had
conformed with one of the unwritten laws of
the country, he still confessed himself in the
dark. This had been but a moment before,
and she now settled herself to explain more
fully.

"A horse is, or was, our most valued property,"
she began. "I reckon the past tense is better -- though
we'll never quite live down our interest
in horses." She smiled across at him. "Long
ago," she went on, "in the days of our Judge
Lynch, you know, a stolen horse meant a hanged
man -- or two or three -- as not infrequently happened.
But all that is history now. Yet the feeling
remains. And whenever one of our horses
disappears -- it is rare now -- we all take it more or
less as a personal loss. In your willingness to

[[114]]

p113 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p114w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p115

v?