on the prairie, under herd. The other remudas were all in sight
of the ranch, while a majority of the men were eating a late
dinner. Still contending for his point, Forrest sent a lad to the
house to ask our employer to come over to the corrals. On his
appearance, accompanied by Flood, each of us stated our
proposition.

"Well, the way I size this up," said old man Don, "one of you
wants to rely on his own judgment and the other don't. It looks
to me, Quince, you want a gambler's chance where you can't lose.
Tom's willing to bank on his own judgment, but you ain't. Now, I
like a man who does his own thinking, and to give you a good
lesson in that line, why, divide them, horse and horse, turn
about. Now, I'll spin this coin for first pick, and while it's in
the air, Jim will call the turn. . . . Tom wins first choice."

"That's all right, Mr. Lovell," said Quince, smilingly. "I just
got the idea that you wanted the remudas for the Buford herds to
be equally good. How can you expect it when Tom knows every horse
and I never saddled one of them. Give me the same chance, and I
might know them as well as the little boy knew his pap."

"You had the same chance," I put in, "but didn't want it. You
were offered the Pine Ridge horses last year to take back to
Dodge, and you kicked like a bay steer. But I swallowed their
dust to the Arkansaw, and from there home we lived in clouds of
alkali. You went home drunk and dressed up, with a cigar in your
mouth and your feet through the car window, claiming you was a
brother-in-law to Jay Gould, and simply out on a tour of
inspection. Now you expect me to give you the benefit of my