"That's the idee."

Pete, used to a rough-and-tumble existence, was deeply impressed by the
old man's quiet outlook and gentle manner. While not altogether in
accord with Annersley's attitude in regard to profanity and chewing
tobacco--still, Young Pete felt that a man who could down the
horse-trader and sit on him and suffer no harm was somehow worth
listening to.




CHAPTER III

A WARNING

That first and unforgettable year on the homestead was the happiest
year of Pete's life. Intensely active, tireless, and resourceful--as
are most youngsters raised in the West--he learned to milk the tame
cow, manipulate the hay-rake, distinguish potato-vines from weeds and
hoe accordingly, and through observation and Annersley's thrifty
example, take care of his clothing and few effects. The old man taught
Pete to read and to write his own name--a painful process, for Young
Pete cared nothing for that sort of education and suffered only that he
might please his venerable partner. When it came to the plaiting of
rawhide into bridle-reins and reatas, the handling of a rope, packing
for a hunting trip, reading a dim trail when tracking a stray horse, or
any of the many things essential to life in the hills, Young Pete took
hold with boyish enthusiasm, copying Annersley's methods to the letter.
Pete was repaid a thousand-fold for his efforts by the old man's