and on the morning of the day set forth, moneyless but rich in trinkets and toggery.  But some where about forty miles south of San Antonio they met a trail herd of cattle from the Aransas River.  Some trouble had occurred between the foreman and his men the day before, and that morning several of the latter had taken French leave.  On meeting the travelers, the trail boss, being short-handed, had offered all three of them a berth.  Quayle had accepted without a question.  The other two had stayed all night with the herd, Dansdale attempting to dissuade Cotton, and Quayle, on the other hand, persuading him to go with the cattle.  In the end Quayle’s persuasions won.  Dansdale admitted that the opportunity appealed strongly to him, but he refused the trail foreman’s blandishments and returned to his ranch, while the two Las Palomas lads accompanied the herd, neither one knowing or caring where they were going.

When I returned home and reported this to my employer, he was visibly affected.  “So that explains all,” said he, “and my surmises regarding Theodore were correct.  I have no particular right to charge him with ingratitude, and yet this ranch was as much his home as mine.  He had the same to eat, drink, and wear as I had, with none of the concern, and yet he deserted me.  I never spoke harshly to him but once, and now I wish I had let him go with Captain Byler.  That would have saved me Cotton and the present disgrace to Las Palomas.  I ought to have known that a good honest boy like John would be putty in the hands of a fellow like Theodore.  But it’s just like a fool boy to throw away his chances in life.  They still sell their birthright for a mess of pottage.  And there stands the empty cottage to remind me that I have something to learn.  Old as I am, my temper will sometimes get away from me.  Tom, you are my next hope, and I am almost afraid some unseen obstacle will arise as this one did.  Does Frances know the facts?” I answered that Hunter had kept the facts to himself, not even acquainting his own people with them, so that aside from myself he was the first to know the particulars.  After pacing the room for a time in meditation, Uncle Lance finally halted and asked me if Scales would be a capable messenger to carry the news to the Vaux family.  I admitted that he was the most tactful man on the ranch.  Aaron was summoned, given the particulars, and commanded to use the best diplomacy at his command in transmitting the facts, and to withhold nothing; to express to the ranchman and his family the deep humiliation every one at Las Palomas felt over the actions of John Cotton.

Years afterward I met Quayle at a trail town in the north.  In the limited time at our command, the old days we spent together in the Nueces valley occupied most of our conversation.  Unmentioned by me, his desertion of Las Palomas was introduced by himself, and in attempting to apologize for his actions, he said:—­