"Well, Aunt Jane said so. Didn't you, Aunt Jane?"

Whereat every one laughed, including the gentle Aunt Jane. And Jimmy got
his second piece of pie.

After the company had found itself, Uncle Frank, Cheyenne, and Bartley
forgathered out on the veranda and talked about the missing horses.
Little Jim sat silently on the steps, hoping that the talk would swing
round to where he could have his say. If he had not discovered the
missing horses, how would his father know where they were? It did not
seem exactly fair to Little Jim that he should be ignored in the matter.

"I'd just ride over and talk with Sneed," suggested Uncle Frank.

"Oh, I'll do that, all right," asserted Cheyenne.

"But I'd go slow. You might talk like your stock had strayed and you
were looking for them. Sneed and Panhandle Sears are pretty thick. I'd
start easy, if I was in your boots."

This from the cautious Uncle Frank.

"But you'd go get 'em, if they happened to be your hosses," said
Cheyenne. "You're always tellin' me to step light and go slow. I reckon
you expect me to sing and laugh and josh and take all the grief that's
comin' and forget it."

"No," said Uncle Frank deliberately. "If they was my hosses, I'd ride
over and get 'em. But I can't step into your tangle. If I did, Sneed
would just nacherally burn us out, some night. There's only two ways to