He's exactly like his daddy was before him." "His father must have been a fine man," said Patches, with quiet earnestness.
The Dean looked at him with an approving twinkle.

"Fine ?" For a few minutes, as they were rounding the turn of the road on the summit of the Divide where Phil and the stranger had met, the Dean looked away toward Granite Mountain.

Then, as if thinking aloud, rather than purposely addressing his companion, he said, "John Acton--Honest John, as everybody called him--and I came to this country together when we were boys.

Walked in, sir, with some pioneers from Kansas.

We kept in touch with each other all the while we was growin' to be men; punched cattle for the same outfits most of the time; even did most of our courtin' together, for Phil's mother an' Stella were neighbors an' great friends over in Skull Valley.