than appears at first sight."

"Yes, Dave; but you're comin' on first-rate. I was a leetle opposed to th'
Old Man sendin' you East to study, for fear it would knock out your
natural instincts. But when you picked up that man as soon as you did,"
and he waved his hand toward the distant specks, "when you did that, I
know you've not been spoiled, an' that there's hope for you."

"That's good, Pete!" and Dave laughed.

"Yes, I didn't agree with th' Old Man at first," the foreman went on, "but
I see he didn't make any mistake."

Mr. Carson was the "Old Man" referred to, but it was not at all a term of
disrespect as applied to the ranch owner. It was perfectly natural to Pete
to use that term, and Dave did not resent it.

"Yes, I'm glad dad did send me East," the young man went on, as they
continued on their way up the trail. "I was mighty lonesome at first, and
I felt--well, cramped, Pete. That's the only way to express it."

"I know how you felt, Dave. There wasn't room to breathe in th' city."

"That's the way I felt. Out here it--it's different."

He straightened up in the saddle, and drew in deep breaths of the pure air
of the plains; an air so pure and thin, so free from mists, that the very
distances were deceiving, and one would have been positive that the
distant foot-hills were but half an hour's ride away, whereas the better
part of a day must be spent in reaching them.