He thought of himself walking shamefaced into the presence of the Dean and reporting the loss of the horse.

The animal might be recovered, he supposed, for he was still, Patches thought, inside the pasture which that fence enclosed.

Still there was a chance that the runaway would escape through some break and never be found.

In any case the vision of the grinning cowboys was not an attractive one.

But at least, thought the amateur cowboy, he would finish the work entrusted to him.