minutes. The hands was a-fannin' it round like a windmill in a
cyclone. But she's quit, now."

"Do I git the job?" queried Pete.

"You get right to bed! It's a wonder every bone in your body ain't
broke!" exclaimed Ma Bailey.

"Bed!" snorted Pete. He rose stiffly. His hat was gone and one spur
was missing. His legs felt heavy. His neck ached; but his black eyes
were bright and blinking.

"Goodness!" exclaimed Mrs. Bailey. "Why, the boy is comin' to all
right!"

"You bet!" said Pete, grinning, although he felt far from all right.
He realized that he rather owed Mrs. Bailey something in the way of an
expression of gratitude for her interest. "I--you, you sure can make
the best pie ever turned loose!" he asserted.

"Pie!" gasped the foreman's wife, "and him almost killed by that blue
devil there! You come right in the house, wash your face, and I'll fix
you up."

"The kid's all right, mother," said Bailey placatingly.

Mrs. Bailey turned on her husband. "That's not your fault, Jim Bailey.
Such goin's-on! You great, lazy hulk, you, to go set a boy to ridin'
that hoss that you dassent ride yourself. If he was my boy--"