mine, at least for a while, an' I was terrible glad.

"I give the kid a spare room. I sat up late that first night listenin'
to the wild geese honkin' away up in the sky an' wonderin' why I was
so happy. Kate, that night there was tears in my eyes when I thought
of how that kid had been out there on the hills walkin' along so happy
an' independent.

"But the next mornin' he was gone. I sent my cowpunchers out to look
for him.

"'Which way shall we ride?' they asked.

"I don't know why, but I thought of the wild geese that Dan had seemed
to be followin'.

"'Ride north,' I said.

"An' sure enough, they rode north an' found him. After that I didn't
have no trouble with him about runnin' away--at least not durin' the
summer. An' all those months I kept plannin' how I would take care of
this boy who had come wanderin' to me. It seemed like he was sort of a
gift of God to make up for me havin' no son. And everythin' went well
until the next fall, when the geese began to fly south.

"Sure enough, that was when Dan ran away again, and when I sent my
cowpunchers south after him, they found him and brought him back. It
seemed as if they'd brought back half the world to me, when I seen
him. But I saw that I'd have to put a stop to this runnin' away. I
tried to talk to him, but all he'd say was that he'd better be movin'