"I certainly thought my legs were
long enough to reach around him," he said reflectively. "How in the
world did he manage it? I seemed to be falling for a week."
Phil yelled and the Dean laughed until the tears ran down his red
cheeks, while Bob and Curly went wild.
Patches went to the horse, and gravely walked around him. Then, "Let him
up," he said to Curly.
The cowboy looked at Phil, who nodded.
As the bay regained his feet, Patches started toward him.
"Here," said the Dean peremptorily. "You come away from there."
"I'm going to see if he can do it again," declared Patches grimly.
"Not to-day, you ain't," returned the Dean. "You're workin' for me now,
an' you're too good a man to be killed tryin' any more crazy
experiments."
At the Dean's words the look of gratitude in the man's eyes was almost
pathetic.
"I wonder if I am," he said, so low that only the Dean and Phil heard.
"If you are what?" asked the Dean, puzzled by his manner.
"Worth anything--as a man--you know," came the strange reply.
The Dean chuckled. "You'll be all right when you get your growth. Come
on over here now, out of the way, while Phil takes some of the
cussedness out of that fool horse.
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