"Hmp! Learn, can't you? Dud Hollister an' Tom Reeves wasn't neither one of them born on a bronc's back. They climbed up there. So can you. You'll take the dust forty times. You'll get yore bones busted an' yore red haid cut open. But if you got the guts to stick, you'll be ridin' 'em slick one o' these here days. An' you'll come out a m-man." A faint glow began to stir in the boy's heart. Was there really a chance for him to reverse the verdict? Could he still turn over a leaf and make another start? "You'll have one heluva time for a while," Blister prophesied. "Take 'em by an' large an' these lads chasin' cows' tails are the salt o' the earth. They'll go farther with you an' stick longer than anybody else you ever met up with. Once they know you an' like you. But they'll be right offish with you for a while. Kinda polite an' distant, I expect. S-some overbearin' g-guy will start runnin' on you, knowin' it'll be safe. It'll be up to you to m-make it mighty onsafe for him. Go through to a finish that once an' the boys will begin sizin' you up an' wonderin' about you. Those show-me lads will have to get evidence about 'steen times before they'll believe." "I'll never be able to stick it. I'm such a--so timid," Dillon groaned. The justice bristled. "H-hell's bells! What's ailin' you, Texas man? I tell you that you're made in His image. Bite on that thought hard whenever you're up against it an' want to hide yorese'f in a hole. Every time you get too s-scared to play yore hand out, you're playin' it low down on yore C-creator." Bob came to another phase of the situation. "What about--June?" "Well, what about her?" "She's gone with Houck. He'll not take her home." "What d' you m-mean not take her home? Where'll he take her?" "I don't know. That's it. I'm responsible for her. I brought her here. He means to--to make her live with him." "Keep her by force--that what you're drivin' at?" "No-o. Not exactly. He's got a hold over her father somehow. She's worn out fightin' him. When she ran away with me she played her last card. She'll have to give up now. He's so big an' strong, such a bulldog for gettin' his way, that she can't hold him off. June ain't seventeen yet. She's gettin' a mighty rotten deal, looks like. First off, livin' alone the way she an' Tolliver do, then Houck, then me, an' finally Houck again." "I'll notify Tolliver how things are," Blister said. "Get word to him right away. We'll have to take a lead from him about June." "I was thinkin'--" "Onload it." "Mrs. Gillespie was so kind to her. Maybe she could talk to June an' take her at the hotel--if June an' Houck haven't gone yet." "You said something then, boy. I'll see Mollie right away. She'll sure fix it." They were too late. The wrangler at Kilburn's corral had already seen Houck hitch up and drive away with June, they presently learned. CHAPTER XI JUNE PRAYS