"You can camp at the waterhole where Lafe did, and I'll send Kid out for that bobcat," suggested the girl. "You could roast him, hair and all." "What! roast Gowan?" protested Blake. "Let me tell you, Miss Chuckie--you and my wife and Ashton may like him that much, but I don't!" "You need not worry, Mr. Tenderfoot," the girl flashed back at him. "Whenever it comes to a hot time, Kid always gets in the first fire, without waiting to be told." "Don't I know it?" exclaimed Ashton. "Maybe you haven't noticed this hole in my hat, Mrs. Blake. He put a bullet through it." "But it's right over your temple, Lafayette!" replied Mrs. Blake. "Lafe was lifting his some-berero to me, and Kid did it to haze him--only a joke, you know," explained Isobel. "Of course Lafe was in no danger. It was different, though, when somebody--we think it was his thieving guide--took several rifle shots at him. Tell them about it, Lafe." Ashton gave an account of the murderous attack, more than once checking himself in a natural tendency to embellish the exciting details. "Oh! What if the man should come back and shoot at us?" shuddered Mrs. Blake, drawing her baby close in her arms. "No fear of that," asserted Isobel. "Kid found that he had fled towards the railroad. That proves it must have been the guide. He would never dare come back after such a crime." "If he should, I always carry my rifle, as you see," remarked Ashton; adding, with a touch of bravado, "I made him run once, and I would again." "I'm glad Miss Chuckie is sure he will not come back," said Blake. "I don't fancy anyone shooting at me that way." "Timid Mr. Blake!" teased the girl. "Genevieve has been telling me how you faced a lion with only a bow and arrow." "Had to," said Blake. "He'd have jumped on me if I had turned or backed off.--Speaking about camping at that waterhole, I believe we'll do it, Ashton, if it's the same thing to you. It would save the time that would be lost coming and going to the ranch." "Save time?" repeated Isobel. "Then of course we'll bring out a tent and camp kit for you tomorrow. Genevieve and I can ride or drive up to the waterhole each day, to picnic with you." "It will be delightful," agreed Mrs. Blake. "You ride on ahead and wait for us in the shade," said her husband. "We'll knock off for the day when we reach that dolerite dike above the waterhole.--If you are ready, Ashton, we'll peg along." He started off to set up his level as briskly as at dawn, though the midday sun was so hot that he had to shade the instrument with his handkerchief to keep the air-bubble from outstretching its scale. His wife and the girl drove on up Dry Fork to the waterhole.