She followed the foreman into the ranch house. A feeling of relief came over her for inside the dwelling very little had been changed. The adobe walls, mellowed by the smoke of the fireplace, were still adorned with her father's Mexican treasures. The furniture was all massive and hand carved. A shy Mexican girl whom Connie had never seen before in her trips to the ranch took her bags and led her down a long tiled corridor to the east bedchamber. Connie unpacked her luggage and changed into a fresh skirt and blouse. She was tired but she felt too excited to lie down. She went to the window and opened it. Below she could see the corrals and the barn, and beyond, a long stretch of green meadow land. "I wish I had time for a canter before supper," Connie thought. She had forgotten to ask the foreman about her favorite mount, Silvertail. Connie had raised the big gray from a colt and he was the best horse in the Rainbow string. Leaving the ranch house, the girl walked rapidly toward the barn. But she stopped short as she saw a familiar slouched figure leaning against the corral bars. "Connie!" cried a gruff voice. "Lefty Forbes!" laughed Connie, clasping his horny hand in her own. "I'm glad to see one familiar face around here." "I reckon you won't be seein' mine much longer," drawled the cowboy. "What do you mean?" asked Connie quickly. "Blakeman is figurin' on givin' me my honorable discharge if I kin read the signs," replied the cowboy dryly. "But I calculate to beat him to the trigger. I'll be quittin' any day now." "Oh, Lefty, you can't! Why, I need you here." "That's the only reason I've stayed on, Connie," said the cowboy soberly. "I thought a lot of your Dad, and this ranch. But there ain't nothin' I can do now. Blakeman runs things with a purty high hand." "He's only the foreman, Lefty. Now that I'm home, I mean to manage the ranch myself." "I reckon you don't know jest how bad things are, Connie." "Blakeman wrote me the ranch had been losing money the past year. Is that what you mean, Lefty?" "Things have been runnin' down hill ever since he took over, Connie. Blakeman's handled the ranch with a high hand. First he fired Pete and Shorty----" "He discharged them?" Connie gasped. "Why I thought they left of their own accord----" "Well, they didn't. They didn't see eye to eye with Blakeman so he told 'em to go. 'Course you know how the cattle market's been the last few years. An' Blakeman seems to have a talent for sellin' at the bottom. Truth is, things are in a purty bad way." "I mean to have a talk with Blakeman tomorrow," Connie declared. "If he doesn't wish to handle the ranch as I say, I'll find a new foreman." "You can't do that, Connie." "Why can't I? Isn't this my ranch?" "It was your ranch," said the cowboy quietly, "but I reckon now that the First National Bank has a strangle hold on it. They have a couple of notes----"