But how about my horse?"
"Why, I brought him along to keep the other horse company. I can't
handle 'em both. Ain't you goin' to help me out?"
"Well, if you put it that way, I will this time."
"Now you're talkin' sense."
Several weeks later they were again riding out on the desert and
enjoying that refreshing and restful companionship which is best
expressed in silence, when Pete, who had been gazing into the distance,
pulled up his restive horse and sat watching a moving something that
suddenly disappeared. Forbes glanced at Pete, who turned and nodded as
if acknowledging the other's unspoken question. They rode on.
A half-hour later, as they pulled up at the edge of the arroyo, Forbes
was startled by Pete's "Hello, neighbor!" to an apparently empty world.
"What's the joke?" queried Forbes.
The joke appeared suddenly around the bend in the arroyo--a big,
weather-bitten joke astride of a powerful horse. Forbes uttered an
exclamation as the joke whipped out a gun and told them to "Put 'em
up!" in a tone which caused Forbes's hands to let go the reins and rise
head-high without his having realized that he had made a movement.
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