"I happened to think of bringing horses in to sell. A work team fetches a good price down round Jerome and Twin Falls, where the new settlers are coming in. So we went into partnership on a bunch of horses. Jones went across into Oregon and got some colts cheap and brought 'em down here." "But why did you have to keep it a secret?" "Why, because, if his creditors had found out that he had a bunch of horses, they'd have attached the whole lot of them and sold them in auction for whatever they could get." "But if he had sold them to you----" "Yes, that's exactly why he did sell them to me; 'consideration one dollar.' Of course, he and I understood that they were really his, but legally they were mine, and no one could take them from me to settle his debts; but to be on the safe side we kept the colts up in the draw and worked with them only in the early morning and late afternoon, when there wasn't much danger of cattle men coming through. Well, everything was going fine, until one day when Jones was off looking up business he met a fellow he'd known on the railway that winter. Of course the fellow wanted to know how Jones was doing. Jones forgot himself and told more than he meant to. The other fellow was on his way to Shoshone then, and _he_ said more than he should have. Grant heard about it, and by the time Jones had got back from Jerome, Grant had sent the sheriff after the horses." "But why didn't Mason come down to see you?" exclaimed Harry. "What a strange thing to do--come and drive the horses off your land without a word!" "But he didn't know that they were mine, or that they were on my land." "Well, how did they know where to find them? Jones didn't tell that fellow exactly where they were, did he?" "Of course not. It was through Joyce they found out. He was in town, at Mason's office, when Grant came in to send the sheriff after the colts, and Joyce remembered seeing them up there in the draw near the big quaking asp. Every one knows that tree, so it was easy for Mason to find the horses. It was dusk when he got there, and so I don't suppose he even thought of looking round to see whether any one lived down below in the cañon." "Well, anyhow, if they're yours legally, why can't you go down and prevent Grant from selling them?" "I thought of that. But Jones said not to--I talked with him on the telephone last night. We've sold half the bunch already, and the market is as good now as it ever will be, and rather than have any mix-up he thinks it's better to let Grant sell off the rest as quick as he can. We've made a good profit already, and so long as Jones is satisfied, I am. I got him into the scheme, so I felt that I had to stand by him to the finish." "You certainly did!" exclaimed Harry. "It isn't every one who would go to jail for a man who is almost a stranger. Lose all that time and gain nothing by it!" "Didn't I gain anything?" Rob looked at her oddly. "Didn't we, rather?" "Didn't we?" she repeated, puzzled.