But I sure am going to overhaul Ramon, if we have to follow him to salt water." "Well, now, I ain't never turned back on a trail yit, fer want uh nerve to foller it," Applehead stated offendedly.

"When I was shurf--" The enlivened jumble of voices, each proclaiming the owner's hopes or desires or disbelief to ears that were not listening, quite submerged Applehead's remarks upon the subject of his wellknown prowess when he was "shurf." The Happy Family were sprawled in unwonted luxury on the shady side of an outcropping of rock from under which a little spring seeped and made a small oasis in the general barrenness.

They had shade, they Had water and food, and through the thin aromatic smoke of their cigarettes they could watch their horses cropping avidly the green grass that meant so much to them.

The knowledge that an hour later they would be traveling again in the blazing heat of midday but emphasized their present comfort.

They were enjoying every minute to its full sixty seconds.