departed on the run for the Hat Ranch. Sam Singer met him half-way with
the velocipede.

O'Rourke returned to the Silver Dollar saloon where, since he was a
vulgarian and a numbskull, he retailed his story to the loungers there
assembled.

"I'll never git over the sight o' that girl a-kissing that young
feller" he concluded. "Why, I'd down a hobo every mornin' before
breakfast if I knowed for certain she'd treat _me_ that-a-way for
doin' it."

The situation was canvassed at considerable length, and only the
entrance of the constable with a request, for volunteers to help him
remove the "remainders" that were littering up the right of way below
town, served to turn the conversation into other channels.

Upon their arrival at the Hat Ranch a shout from Harley P. Hennage
brought Sam Singer and Soft Wind to the front gate. Donna dismounted,
tying Friar Tuck to the "zephyr" by the simple process of dropping the
reins over his head, and hurried into the house to prepare her mother's
old room for the reception of the wounded man. Bob McGraw was very limp
and white as Harley P. and the Indian carried him in. The gambler
undressed him while Sam Singer sprang aboard the velocipede and sped
back toward town to meet the doctor.

When the doctor arrived, he and Harley P. Hennage went into the
bedroom, closing the door after them. Donna remained in the kitchen.
She had already ordered Soft Wind to light a fire in the range and heat
some water, and when presently the gambler came out to the kitchen he