"How's that?" asked Haig, pouring out the drinks.
"I left three hundred head of cattle, and now I learn there are thirteen hundred head, almost."
"Don't let that worry you. I've sold enough of the increase to bring back all the money they cost me. So we're quits."
"Be sensible, Haig. First thing, why did you do it?"
"Well, your fine ranch here wasn't making much money, and I thought you'd need a good deal, perhaps, before you got through with your--affair."
"But I'm not. You'll take a half interest, and we'll go partners."
"I say yes," persisted Thursby. "But I'm forgetting to ask questions. How the devil did you get back?"
"I will a tale unfold will harrow up thy bones--and the rest of it," replied Haig, laughing. "But first: when did you arrive?"
"And what have you told them--my pleasant neighbors?"
"Nothing. But they have the impression that I came for the final payment on the ranch, and that I remained because you were lost in the mountains."
"Good. Now, old man, I'll tell you how you can repay me in full for anything you may think I've done for you."
"Are you ready to assume the responsibility for my acts? I mean in the matter of the land and cattle? The rest is still my affair."
"Well, then. I've very special reasons for needing peace with Huntington."
Thursby looked at him curiously. This from Philip Haig!
"Don't misunderstand me. I've gone up there before, and I'm going again to-morrow. But I want to give Huntington a chance. So if you'll go to his house to-morrow morning, and tell him that I've finished, that the ranch is not mine, and--"
"Never mind about that now. We'll talk it over later. Just tell Huntington that the ranch is not mine, and never has been, and--whatever else you like. Then say to him that if he still wants to fight me I'll meet him anywhere, and we'll settle it. In any event, you will tell him, I'm coming to his place to-morrow afternoon, and I'll have no gun."
And he made a thorough job of it. He told them--Huntington, Claire and Marion--that he had been in great trouble. What that trouble was concerned nobody but himself, but it was enough to send him around the world, reckless of everything but the immediate object of his pursuit. Philip Haig, an old friend, had volunteered to look after his ranch for him, and to provide him with money when he needed it. So, if Haig had seemed too aggressive and selfish in his methods, all that he had done had been done in a spirit of--he might say a spirit that was almost quixotic. And having done all this, increasing Thursby's holdings of cattle four times, Haig refused to accept anything for his time and labor, and insisted that their account was closed.