"You've got to have something to build on when you start to make a man.

The raw material is not in Joe, and, besides," he added significantly, "folks might not understand." Patches laughed bitterly.

"I have my hands full now." The next morning the foreman said that he would give that day to the horses he was training, and sent Patches, alone, after the saddle and bridle which they had left near the scene of the accident.
"You can't miss finding the place again," he said to Patches; "just follow up the wash.

You'll be back by noon--if you don't try any experiments," he added laughing.
Patches had ridden as far as the spot where he and Phil had met the Tailholt Mountain men, and was thirsty.

He thought of the distance he had yet to go, and then of the return back to the ranch, in the heat of the day.