"Will you ride?" he asked. Arthur glanced up at him and nodded without speaking. The stranger was a fine-looking man, with a military cut of beard, getting gray. His face was ruddy and smiling. "Thank you. I am rather tired," Arthur said, as he settled into the seat. "I guess I'll have to own up, I'm about played out." "I thought you looked foot-sore. I'm enough of a Western man to feel mean when I pass a man on the road. A footman can get very tired on these stretches of ours." "I've tramped about forty miles to-day, I guess. I'm trying to find some work to do," he added, in desperate confidence. "Is that so? What kind of work?" "Well, I wanted to get a place as foreman on a ranch." "I'm afraid that's too much to expect." Arthur sighed. "Yes, I suppose it is. If I'd known as much two weeks ago as I do now, I wouldn't be here." "Oh, don't get discouraged; there's plenty of work to do. I can give you something to do on my place." "Well, I've come to the conclusion that there is nothing here for me but the place of a common hand, so if you can give me anything----" "Oh, yes, I can give you something to do in my garden. Perhaps something better will open up later. Where are you staying?" he asked, as they neared town. Arthur told him, and the man drove him down to his hotel. "I'd like to have you call at my office to-morrow morning; my partner does most of the hiring. I've been living in Denver. Here's my card." After he had driven away, the listening landlord broke forth: "You're in luck, Cap. If you get a place with Major Thayer you're fixed." "Who is he, anyhow?" "Who is he? Why, he owns all the land up the creek, and banks all over Colorado." "Is that so?" Arthur was delighted. Of course, it was only a common hand's place, but here was the vista he had looked for--here was the chance. He stretched his legs under the table in huge content as he ate his supper. His youthful imagination had seized upon this slender wire of promise and was swiftly making it a hoop of diamonds. II. When he entered the office next day, however, the Major merely nodded to him over the railing and said: "Good morning. Take a seat, please." He seemed deeply engaged with a tall young man of about thirty-five years of age, with a rugged, smooth-shaven face. The young man spoke with a marked English accent, and there was a quality in his manner of speech which appealed very strongly to Arthur. "Confeound the fellow," the young Englishman was saying, "I've discharged him. I cawn't re-engage him, ye kneow! We cawn't have a man abeout who gets drunk, y' kneow--it's too bloody proveoking, Majah." "But the poor fellow's family, Saulisbury."