"No, Bill," he said, quietly, "I don't think it is time for me to go there yet. Mother and Millie may still feel that my part in the whole scheme was not as kindly as it might have been, so I'll just drive over to my cabin and maybe later, perhaps to-morrow morning, come over and join you for a visit of an hour or two. It's a long time, old chap," he said, as he patted Bill on the shoulder, "since you have been home, and I think it is about time you were running along." Bill knew what was deterring him. Tactfully he said nothing, but smiled. They walked along in silence for a block or two, until in a jeweler's window Bill saw something that appealed to his imagination. He put his hand in his pocket and withdrew it before it touched bottom, realizing that his last dime had gone for a cup of coffee for himself and Zeb at a lunch-counter early that morning. Zeb was waiting for him at the G. A. R. Hall up the street a ways, but he had a duty to perform and it seemed to him that that duty could best be done by the help of the object in the jeweler's window. "John, will you lend me two dollars?" he asked. "At your old tricks, Lightnin'? You bet I can lend you two dollars! You sure that's all you want?" Marvin laughed, taking the money from his pocket. "Plenty," was Bill's brief reply, pocketing the two dollars. They walked to the corner of the street, where they said good-by to each other. When Bill was satisfied that Marvin's back was well turned he sauntered into the jewelry-shop and up to the counter, where he purchased a sterling-silver ring, washed in gold, with a bright, shining piece of glass set in it. The clerk in the store smiled at the old man as he pocketed the monstrosity and went happily out of the store. How to get to Calivada from Reno had not entered his mind. It was a good seventy-five miles, but he knew that some way or other he would get home that night. With his mind made up to that issue, he wandered up the street and joined Zeb, who had been waiting for him all afternoon. The two old men, arm in arm, stood on the street corner and looked about. And just then Rodney Harper and his wife, who were interested spectators in the court-room during the afternoon trial, turned the corner in their machine and stopped to say a good word to Bill. "What you going to do, Lightnin'?" asked Harper, while his wife beamed at the two odd old souls. "What _you_ going to do?" was Bill's evasive answer. "Why, we are motoring back to Calivada, where we have a room at the hotel," said Mrs. Harper. "Well, then, I guess," said Bill, putting his foot on the step of the automobile, "that's just what me and Zeb is goin' to do." The Harpers laughed and looked at each other. They were both agreed. Bill and Zeb climbed in and made a strange couple on the back seat of the car as it whirled through the streets of Reno and on up into the hills. In the mean time the hotel at Calivada, true to its nature, was the scene of a new sensation.