A proud boast of his was that neither white man nor red man had ever betrayed his trust.

His cowboys took advantage of him, his neighbors imposed upon him, but none were there who did not make good their debts of service or stock.

Belllounds was one of the great pioneers of the frontier days to whom the West owed its settlement; and he was finer than most, because he proved that the Indians, if not robbed or driven, would respond to friendliness.
* * * * * Belllounds was not seen at his customary tasks on the day he expected his son.

He walked in the fields and around the corrals; he often paced up and down the porch, scanning the horizon below, where the road from Kremmling showed white down the valley; and part of the time he stayed indoors.
It so happened that early in the afternoon he came out in time to see a buckboard, drawn by dust-and-lather-stained horses, pull into the yard.
And then he saw his son.

Some of the cowboys came running.