happen!... Stranger, will you put up your hosses an' stay?"

"I'm lookin' for work," replied Wade.

It was then that mention was made of Belllounds sending to Meeker for
hands.

"Old Bill Belllounds thet settled Middle Park an' made friends with the
Utes," said Wade, as if certain of his facts.

"Yep, you have Bill to rights. Do you know him?"

"I seen him once twenty years ago."

"Ever been to Middle Park? Belllounds owns ranches there," said the
innkeeper.

"He ain't livin' in the Park now," interposed Kemp. "He's at White
Slides, I reckon, these last eight or ten years. Thet's over the
Gore Range."

"Prospected all through that country," said Wade.

"Wal, it's a fine part of Colorado. Hay an' stock country--too high fer
grain. Did you mean you'd been through the Park?"

"Once--long ago," replied Wade, staring with his great, cavernous eyes
into space. Some memory of Middle Park haunted him.

"Wal, then, I won't be steerin' you wrong," said the innkeeper. "I like