“All right. Some day, when you are in just the right humor for it, I’ll tell you how you can get yourself into as lively a mess as you ever heard of—something that will set the whole settlement in a blaze.” “I’m your man,” said Gus, readily. “If one is going to raise a row, let him raise a big one, while he is about it. That’s what I say!” The five miles that lay between the swell and the rancho had never seemed so short to Ned as they did that day. He and Gus had so much to talk about that they took no note of time, and their ride was ended almost before they knew it. When they reached the rancho, they found Uncle John standing on the porch, waiting for them. CHAPTER XI. GUS HEARS FROM HOME. Gus spent the two days following his arrival at the rancho in resting; and even at the end of that time he had not fully recovered from the effects of his long, hard ride on horseback. He and Ned passed the time in roaming about the house and grounds, and at every turn Gus found something to interest him. The rancho and everything about it, Uncle John’s manner of living, the appearance, customs and language of the men he met every day—all these were new to Gus, who could have enjoyed himself hugely now if it had not been for two disagreeable reflections which constantly intruded upon him in spite of all he could do to keep them out of his mind. There were cattle-thieves in that country who made a practice of shooting everybody who came in their way, and they had been in that very house not a great while ago. They might come again at any moment, and there might be another fight—and Gus did not like to think of that. He would have been safer in his father’s store than he was in that country, but would he ever be permitted to return to that store after what he had done? On the whole he was sorry that he had come to Texas, and Ned was almost sorry that he had invited him, for Gus didn’t act and talk like the boy he had known in Foxboro’. He was not so jolly and full of life as he used to be. Mr. Ackerman never asked the visitor if he had left home with his father’s full and free consent. He, no doubt, took it for granted that Gus had talked the matter over with Mr. Robbins, and so said nothing about it. This relieved Ned of a burden of anxiety, and another thing that pleased him was the fact that Gus never asked any questions concerning the hunting adventure which Ned had so graphically described in his first letter.