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It was a week later, yet Grayson still was growling about the loss of "that there Brazos pony" Grayson, the boss, and the boss's daughter were sitting upon the veranda of the ranchhouse when the foreman reverted to the subject

"I knew I didn't have no business hirin' a man thet can't ride," he said "Why thet there Brazos pony never did stumble, an' if he'd of stuin I jest cain't figger it out no ways how thet there tenderfoot bookkeeper lost him He must a-shooed hione too Doggone it!"

"I'irl with a wry smile "Brazos was my pony He's the one you picked out for e feels as badly about it as anyone, and I know that he couldn't help it We shouldn't be too hard on hiht just as well atte of the bank and the loss of the pay-roll ive him thet horse 'cause I knew he couldn't ride, an' thet was the safest horse in the cavvy I wisht I'd given him Santa Anna instid--I wouldn't a-minded losin' him There won't no one ride hi that surprises me most," remarked the boss, "is that Brazos doesn't coe, and he's never been ridden anywhere else, has he?"

"He was foaled right here on this ranch," Grayson corrected him, "and he ain't never been more'n a hundred mile from it If he ain't dead or stolen he'd a-ben back afore the bookkeeper was It's ale?" asked the girl

"Oh, he's all right I guess," replied Grayson grudgingly "A feller's got to be so He's probably one of these here paper-collar, cracker-fed college dudes thet don't know nothin' else 'cept writin' in books"

The girl rose, se, anyhow," she called back over her shoulder, "for whatever he entlee in the estireasers don't coe with thet bunch o' steers They ben gone all day now," he said to the boss, ignoring the girl's parting sally