contemptuously as his fifth attempt failed. "I could lick the whole
bunch!"

Finally he located a half-grown youth who said he was willing to go.
Pete told him where to find Montoya and exacted a promise from the
youth to go at once and apply for the place. Pete hastened to the
store and immediately forgot time, place, and even the fact that he had
yet to get a job riding for the Concho outfit, in the eager joy of
choosing a saddle, bridle, blanket, spurs, boots and chaps, to say
nothing of a new Stetson and rope. The sum total of these unpaid-for
purchases rather staggered him. His eighteen-odd dollars was as a
fly-speck on the credit side of the ledger. He had chosen the best of
everything that Roth had in stock. A little figuring convinced him
that he would have to work several months before his outfit was paid
for. "If I git a job I'll give you an order for my wages," he told
Roth.

"That's all right, Pete; I ain't worryin'."

"Well--I be, some," said Pete. "Lemme see--fifty for the saddle, seven
for the bridle---and she's some bridle!--and eighteen for the
chaps--fifteen for the boots--that's ninety dollars. Gee whizz! Then
there's four for that blanket and ten for them spurs. That's a hundred
and four. 'Course I _could_ git along without a new lid. Rope is
three-fifty, and lid is ten. One hundred and seventeen dollars for
four bits. Guess I'll make it a hundred and twenty. No use botherin'
about small change. Gimme that pair of gloves."

Roth had no hesitation in outfitting Pete. The Concho cattlemen traded
at his store. He had extended credit to many a rider whom he trusted