lived a poor sheep-herder and horse-trader named Creech. This man owned a
number of thoroughbreds, two of which he would not part with for all the gold
in the uplands. These racers, Blue Roan and Peg, had been captured wild on the
ranges by Ute Indians and broken to racing. They were still young and getting
faster every year. Bostil wanted them because he coveted them and because he
feared them. It would have been a terrible blow to him if any horse ever beat
the gray. But Creech laughed at all offers and taunted Bostil with a boast
that in another summer he would see a horse out in front of the King.

To complicate matters and lead rivalry into hatred young Joel Creech, a great
horseman, but worthless in the eyes of all save his father, had been heard to
say that some day he would force a race between the King and Blue Roan. And
that threat had been taken in various ways. It alienated Bostil beyond all
hope of reconciliation. It made Lucy Bostil laugh and look sweetly mysterious.
She had no enemies and she liked everybody. It was even gossiped by the women
of Bostil's Ford that she had more than liking for the idle Joel. But the
husbands of these gossips said Lucy was only tender-hearted. Among the riders,
when they sat around their lonely camp-fires, or lounged at the corrals of the
Ford, there was speculation in regard to this race hinted by Joel Creech.
There never had been a race between the King and Blue Roan, and there never
would be, unless Joel were to ride off with Lucy. In that case there would be
the grandest race ever run on the uplands, with the odds against Blue Roan
only if he carried double. If Joel put Lucy up on the Roan and he rode Peg
there would be another story. Lucy Bostil was a slip of a girl, born on a
horse, as strong and supple as an Indian, and she could ride like a burr
sticking in a horse's mane. With Blue Roan carrying her light weight she might
run away from any one up on the King--which for Bostil would be a double
tragedy, equally in the loss of his daughter and the beating of his
best-beloved racer. But with Joel on Peg, such a race would end in heartbreak
for all concerned, for the King would outrun Peg, and that would bring riders