“Well,” he admitted, “I’m not saying much, but you have no right to talk about falling in love with a horse. The way you treat Star would make any one think he was made of cut glass! All the while it’s easy now, Star, you might hurt yourself! Is that cinch-strap too tight, Star? Here, let me brush that fly off your ear!’ Huh! Do you tuck him in bed and kiss him good-night, Roy?” Roy Manley refused the bait. “I remember,” he said calmly, wiping the sweat from his upper lip and leaving in its stead a streak of black dust, “when you first got Flash. Dad gave him to you for your birthday. You were just a little shaver then--” “Aw, donkey-dust! Who do you think you are--Methuselah? Just because you’re a year older--” “You were just a little shaver then,” Roy went on imperturbably, “and maybe you didn’t know what you were doing. You simply went into ecstasy. Get that--ecstasy? Sixty-cent word. Yep, you jumped up and down with glee, I’ll tell a maverick!” “Well, if I jumped up and down with glee, you, by golly, stood on your head when dad gave you Star! Now laugh that off!” “We won’t argue about it,” Roy replied, with assumed dignity. “Baby, this road is sure some dusty! Wind’s right at our backs, too. If I took a drink of water now I’d turn into a mud-pie. Hey, Teddy, think you can coax that cayuse you’re riding into something more than a trickle? Maybe he’ll run, if you talk to him real nice.” Teddy Manley did not reply, but clucked softly to his mount. Flash responded with a leap that caused General, the bay that Teddy was leading, to toss his head in protest. “You’d better be careful,” Roy cautioned. “There’s only one man who can boss General, and that’s dad. If the bay takes it into his head to stop, he’ll _stop_, and neither one of us will be able to budge him. Then dad’s train will pull in, and he’ll expect to find General at the station waiting for him. And where’ll we be?” “Down in the cellar eating spinach,” Teddy answered, with a grin. “Flash, here, won’t let General balk on us! will you, old boy?” and Teddy leaned forward and rubbed the horse’s nose. Flash nuzzled his master’s hand affectionately. “Why don’t you let up on that mush?” Roy asked in a disgusted tone. “Go on, whisper pretty nothings in his ear! Talk about me and Star! Why, when Gilly Froud--” Eyes blazing, Teddy turned swiftly on his brother. “Don’t mention that cur’s name to me,” he said thickly. “You know what he did to Flash? He kicked him, that’s what he did! Kicked him! And if dad hadn’t stopped me, I’d have--I’d have--” “Cool off, cool off,” Roy advised soothingly. “I don’t like Froud any more than you do. You know that. Anyway, dad threw him off the ranch, so let’s forget him. Come on, step on it. Dad’s train is due soon.” Breathing heavily at the memory of Froud’s mistreatment of Flash, Teddy pulled General’s leading rein and urged his own mount to a faster pace.