The Boss of Wind River

hat is, till I'm capable of running the business without advice I'll run it on yours. I've got to make a bluff, and this is the only way I see of doing it. What do you think?"

"I think," said Wright, "that it's the best thing you can do, though I wouldn't have suggested it myself. I'll give you the best I've got. An hour ago I was rather doubtful, but now I think you've got it in you to play a mighty good game of your own one of these days."

Whereupon old Bob Wright and young Joe Kent shook hands with mutual respect--Wright because he had found that Kent was not a self-sufficient young ass, and Kent because Wright had treated him as a man instead of merely as an employer.

II

In the course of a few weeks Joe Kent began to feel that he was making some progress. The business was no longer a mysterious machine that somehow produced money for his needs. It became a breathing, throbbing creature, sensitive to the touch, thriving with attention, languishing with neglect. It was a del