“Son, you’re a strappin’ youngster an’ you’ve got looks no woman will pass by,” said Merryvale. “An’ in this country the preference of women brings trouble. Wal, for thet matter, all the trouble anywheres is made by them. But in the desert, where it’s wild an’ hot an’ there’s few females of any species, the fightin’ gets bloody.” “Women have been the least of my fights or troubles,” rejoined Adam. “But lately I had a--a little more serious affair--that ended suddenly before I fell in deep.” “Lordy! son, you’ll be a lamb among wolves!” broke in Merryvale. “See here, I’m goin’ to start you right. This country is no place for a nice clean boy, more’s the shame and pity. Every man who gets on in the West, let alone in the desert where the West is magnified, has got to live up to the standard. He must work, he must endure, he must fight men, he must measure up to women. I ain’t sayin’ it’s a fine standard, but it’s the one by which men have survived in a hard country at a hard time.” “Survival of the fittest,” muttered Adam, soberly. “You’ve said it, son. Thet law makes the livin’ things of this desert, whether man or otherwise. _Quien sabe?_ You can never tell what’s in a man till he’s tried. Son, I’ve known desert men whose lives were beyond all understandin.’ But not one man in a thousand can live on the desert. Thet has to do with his mind first; then his endurance. But to come back to this here Picacho. I’d not be afraid to back you against it if you meet it right.” “How is that?” “Lordy! son, I wish I could say the right word,” returned Merryvale, in pathetic earnestness. “You ain’t to be turned back?” “No. I’m here for better or worse. Back home I had my hopes, my dreams. They’re gone--vanished.... I’ve no near relatives except a brother who--who is not my kind. I didn’t want to come West. But I seem to have been freed from a cage. This grand wild desert! It will do something wonderful--or terrible with me.” “Wal, wal, you talk like you look,” replied Merryvale, with a sigh. “Time was, son, when a hunch of mine might be doubtful. But now I’m old, an’ as I go down the years I remember more my youth an’ I love it more. You can trust me.” Then he paused, taking a deep breath, as if his concluding speech involved somehow his faith in himself and his good will to a stranger. “Be a man with your body! Don’t shirk work or play or fight. Eat an’ drink an’ be merry, but don’t live jest for thet. Lend a helpin’ hand--be generous with your gold. Put aside a third of your earnin’s for gamblin’ an’ look to lose it. Don’t ever get drunk. You can’t steer clear of women, good or bad. An’ the only way is to be game an’ kind an’ square.” “Game--kind--square,” mused Adam, thoughtfully. “Wal, I need a new fishin’ line,” said Merryvale, as he pulled in his rod. “We’ll go up to the store an’ then I’ll take you to the mill.” While passing the adobe house where Adam had engaged board and lodging he asked his companion the name of the people.