wait?"

"I'll stay as long as you'll keep me," Gray declared, heartily.

A moment later, having learned that a place at the table had been
set for his driver as well as himself, Gray stepped out to summon
the man and to effect the necessary change in his arrangements. He
was not surprised to find the chauffeur with nose flattened
against a pane of the front-room window, his hands cupped over his
eyes. Ignoring the fellow's confusion at being discovered, Gray
told him of his change of plan and instructed him to drive back to
Ranger and to return late the following afternoon. Then he led the
way toward the kitchen.

That stay at the Briskows' turned out to be less irksome than the
visitor had anticipated, for the afternoon was spent with Buddy
examining the Briskow wells and others near by. It was an
interesting experience, and Gray obtained a deal of first-hand
information that he believed would come in handy. Buddy's first
mistrust was not long in passing, and, once Gray had penetrated
his guard, the boy was won completely, the pendulum swung to the
opposite extreme, and erelong suspicion changed to liking, then to
approval, and at last to open, extravagant admiration.

And Gray liked the youthful giant, too, once the latter had
dropped his hostility and had become his natural self, for Ozark
was a lad with temper and with temperament. They got along
together swimmingly; in fact, they grew thicker than thieves in
the course of time. The elder man soon became conscious of the
fact that he was being studied, analyzed, even copied--the