"No--oh, no. I'm merely explaining to you that I don't trust you for one holy minute. I don't want you to think you can put anything over on me by getting on my blind side. I haven't got any, so far as you're concerned. Now listen. I meant, and if possible I still mean, to keep my promise and take you to the Coast in the plane; but something's come up that is going to hold up the trip for a few days, maybe--" "Aw, yes! I had a hunch you'd--" "Shut up! I told you I'd go as soon as I could without leaving the boss in the hole. Well, it happens that--well, some horses were stolen off this range, and I'm the one that's responsible. So--" "Say, bo, you don't, f'r cat's sake, think _I_ stole your damn horses? Why, honest, bo, I wouldn't have a horse on a bet! I--" "Oh, shut _up_!" thundered the distracted Johnny above the other's whine. "Of course I know you didn't steal 'em. Horses ain't in your line, or I wouldn't be so sure. The point is this. I've got to get out and get 'em back, or get a line on who did it. I can't go off without doing something about it. This range was in my charge. I was supposed to report anything that looked suspicious, and I--well, the point is this--" "So you said," Bland cut in, with something of his natural venom. "Shut up. There's just a chance I can find out where those horses were taken. We'll go in the plane. You'll have to go along to handle it, because I'm liable to be busy, if I run across anybody. I'm going to pack a rifle and a six-shooter, and I don't want my hands full of controls right at the critical minute. Besides," he added ingenuously, "some of these darned air currents nearly got the best of me yesterday, coming back. You can handle the machine, and I'll do the look-see." "Aw, sa-ay! I--" "I know it's against my promise to a certain extent," Johnny went on. "I know I've got you in a corner, too, where you can't help yourself. You couldn't walk to the railroad, or even to the closest ranch, if you knew the way--which you don't. You'd wander around in the heat and the sand--well, you're pretty helpless without me, all right, or the plane. I sabe that better than you do. You've got to do about as I say, because you haven't got the nerve to kill me, even if I gave you the chance. Sneaking off with the plane is about as much as you're game for. "Well, the point is this: I don't want to take any mean advantage of you. I can't afford to pay you what your services are really worth, as pilot--and there's no reason why I should. But--well, I ain't quite broke yet. I'll give you twenty-five dollars for helping me out, in case what I want to do only takes a day or two days. If it takes more, I'll give you ten dollars a day. It isn't much, but it helps when you're broke."