Had Mr. Cassidy been a kitten he would have purred with delight as he watched his youthful friend’s vain search for the hair of the dog, and his grin was threatening to engulf his ears when the Cub slammed into the hotel. Hearing the beating of hoofs he glanced around and saw a trim, pretty young lady astride a trim, high-spirited pony; and both were thoroughbreds if he was any judge. They bore down upon him at a smart lope and stopped at the edge of the walk. The rider leaped from the saddle and ran toward him with her hand outstretched and her face aglow with a delighted surprise. Her eyes fairly danced with welcome and relief and her cheeks, reddened by the thrust of the wind for more than twenty miles, flamed a deeper red, through which streaks of creamy white played fascinatingly. "Dick Ellsworth!" she cried. "When did you get here?" Mr. Cassidy stumbled to his feet, one hand instinctively going out to the one held out to him, the other fiercely gripping his sombrero. His face flamed under its tan and he mumbled an incoherent reply. "Don’t you remember _me_?" she chided, a roguish, half-serious expression flashing over her countenance. "Not little Annie, whom you taught to ride? I used to think I needed you then, Dick; but oh, how I need you now. It’s Providence, nothing else, that sent you. Father’s gone steadily worse and now all he cares for is a bottle. Joe, the new foreman, has full charge of everything and he’s not only robbing us right and left, but he ’s—he ’s bothering _me_! When I complain to father of his attentions all I get is a foolish grin. If you only knew how I have prayed for you to come back, Dick! Two bitter years of it. But now everything is all right. Tell me about yourself while I get the mail and then we ’ll ride home together. I suppose Joe will be waiting for me somewhere on the trail; he usually does. Did you ever hate anyone so much you wanted to kill him?" she demanded fiercely, beside herself for the moment. Hopalong nodded. "Well, yes; I have," he answered. "But you must n’t. What’s his name? We ’ll have to look into this." "Joe Worth; but let’s forget him for awhile," she smiled. "I ’ll get the mail while you go after your horse." He nodded and watched her enter the post-office and then turned and walked thoughtfully away. She was mounted when he returned and they swung out of the town at a lope. "Where have you been, and what have you been doing?" she asked as they pushed along the firm, hard trail. "Punchin’ for th’ Bar-20, southwest of here. I wouldn’t ’a’ been here today only I let th’ outfit ride on without me. We just got back from Kansas City a couple of days back. But let’s get at this here Joe Worth prop’sition. I ’m plumb curious. How long’s he been pesterin’ you?" "Nearly two years—I can’t stand it much longer." "An’ th’ outfit don’t cut in?"