All three stood there, gawking and grinning at us. I reckon I should have expected some teasing since Esther Travis was riding beside me. Never mind that Tom Green and Jasper Wilson were riding behind us.

"Ain't that Arty the Kid and his gang?" asked Bo Smith. He whipped off his dusty Stetson and held it close to his chest with both hands. He stood there, broad shouldered and well over six feet tall, and tried to look scared.

"I reckon it is," said the shorter, slim Chad Harte, our leather-tough top hand. "They can't be out on a raid, though." He elbowed Bill Munson, our bull-necked, bearded foreman who stood next to him. "Arty has a lady with him."

"Oh, I hear he always takes her along on his raids," said Bill.

"Now, why would he take that lady on his raids?" asked Bo.

"Two reasons," Bill replied. "First, he takes her along to protect the rest of the gang. That little lady is pretty, but she's also tough. Second, the gang rides a fair piece sometimes"--he winked at Esther but still didn't smile--"and I hear she's the only one who can find her way back home!"

Tom started to laugh first, then Bo slapped his Stetson against his leg and started laughing. Esther, Bill and Chad joined them. I held on till I thought I was going to bust, then I had to laugh too. A few minutes later when we had laughing, someone tapped my shoulder. Jasper had ridden his mule forward and stopped it beside Prince.

Leaning toward me in his saddle, he whispered so load that even the hands couldn't help hearing him, "Arty, why was that funny?"

When I had stopped laughing a second time, I looked as sternly as I could at the three men leaning against the corral fence and said quietly, "Pack your bedrolls, boys; you're all fired!" I waved for my friends to follow me and bumped Prince with my heals. "Let's ride!"

Just a minute, pardner," said Bill.

I pulled gently on Prince's reins and turned in the saddle.

"Mind if I ask where you folks are headed?" he asked.

"We're going for a ride," I said.

"I guessed that from seeing the horses," he replied. "Where are you headed?"

"South forty," I mumbled, turning Prince away from Bill.

"That's rough country," said Bill. "Are you sure--"

"I can handle it," I said over my shoulder. Now, I knew better than to interrupt a grown person, even when I was riled. I felt like I'd just stepped in a cow pie; I wanted to back up a step, but it was too late now.

"It wasn't you I was thinking about," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry," I said, turning Prince back toward Bill. "I just feel like a little kid when I have to tell you where I'm going and what I'm planning to do."

"He asks Bo and me and all the other hands the same question before we ride off for the day, pardner," said Chad. He walked over and patted Prince's neck. Then he looked me right in the eyes and said, "The Circle A covers a lot of territory, and there's no telling what could happen to even the best riders. If someone doesn't show up when he's supposed to, the rest of us had better know where to start looking."

"You're right," I said. "We want to do some exploring. I haven't seen much of the southern section of the ranch. That's why we thought we'd head for the southwest corner. We'll be careful, and we won't ride where the country is too rough. We plan to be back by sundown."

"I trust your judgment, pardner," Bill said. "Just remember the things we've taught you."

For the first five minutes of our ride, Jasper and Tom were the only ones talking. I rode, looking straight ahead. My ears were burning, and I had that same old knot in my stomach that I always got when I was upset. Being foolish in front of Jasper and Tom was embarrassing. Being foolish in front of Ester was . . . well, I would rather have eaten a live tarantula. I could feel her looking at me. Sometimes I reckoned she could see right into my heart.

Esther and her family had been coming to the ranch for Sunday dinner about every other week. After dinner Ruth and Mary, Esther's younger sisters, would clear the table, then go outside to play. own folks would take a walk, sit on the porch or go to the parlor, depending on the weather or just on what they wanted to do. Esther washed and dried the dishes and talked as good friends talk.

We spoke about what was on our minds--ranching, school, friends and other things. One of those other things usually wound up being my spiritual life. I hated talking about sin in my life, but I knew it was there. Esther knew it was there too. She most often brought up my being angry with God over losing Pa. She was never unkind or preachy, but she wasn't shy about speaking out. More than anyone else, she made me see that I had to accept Pa's death as God's will.

While she washed the dishes and talked, I dried and listened. Esther had made me see that my being angry with God had stopped me from growing spiritually. It had also stopped God from hearing my prayers. I had been working hard at changing my attitude and accepting God's will. Now I had played the fool not only in front of Esther but also in front of Tom, who wasn't even a Christian.

"I'm proud of you, Arty," she whispered.

I grabbed the saddle horn to keep from falling on Prince. "Why?" I asked. "Because I did such a good job of making a fool of myself back there?" I still couldn't look at her.

"No," she answered, "because when you saw that you were wrong, you apologized and made things right. Everybody does wrong from time to time. How you handle your mistakes shows what you really are. I'm also proud of you because you used that silver tongue of yours to persuade Tom's parents to stop babying him and finally let him do something with the rest of us. Getting him to see his need for Jesus as his Saviour is nearly impossible if we only see him at school. There was a time when you were too bitter to be concerned about anyone else. You've changed since we first met, and I really am proud of you. Now, are we going to enjoy today?"

I looked at her and grinned. "Yes, ma'am!" I wanted to throw my hat in the air and holler, but instead, I just thanked God for giving me such a good friend.

The morning was perfect for a ride. Prince was feeling frisky; and if I had been riding alone, I would have let him run. Esther would have had no trouble keeping up. She was as good a rider as me--well, almost as good. I had saddled one of our gentle mares for Tom because he hadn't ridden much.

In fact, Tom hadn't been allowed to do anything much since he'd moved to White Rock. A year or so before his family had come west, Tom's older brother had been killed while climbing on some rock formation with his friends. I knew what the family had gone through, and I reckon I understood why they were so jumpy about letting Tom out of their sight.

From Tom's first day at school, I had felt that we going to be pards. At school he had fit in just fine, and all of us liked him. A dozen or more times during the school year I had invited him to ranch. He had been allowed to come once for supper--with his parents. They were not about to lose their other son.

When they had brought Tom to the ranch yesterday, they had insisted on seeing the horse Tom was going to ride. For a few minutes I was afraid were going to take him back home. Esther was right. Although she, Jasper and I had been praying that Tom would get saved, we needed to talk to him too.

Anyway, back to why I couldn't let Prince take off across the prairie: Jasper's riding was getting better all of the time, but then I had seen him fall off a chair. I wasn't about to let him try a galloping mule unless there was a really good reason.

As we rode at an easy walk, Tom and Jasper moved up beside me on my left. When I looked at them, they were both were grinning.

"Thanks for inviting me to come along, Arty," said Tom. "Spending the night at your house with you and Jasper was a great idea. We got an earlier start this way and . . . well, I've never done anything like this before. Where are we going?"

"Nowhere special, I reckon," I answered. "I've spent most of my time in Coyote Canyon or at my fishing hole to the north. I want to see what this corner of the ranch looks like."

"If you've never been where we're going," said Jasper, "how will we know when we get there?"

I looked at Esther. She was smiling.

"We'll probably ride until sometime around noon," she said, "then we'll find a nice place for a picnic, eat this delicious dinner Arty's grandmother packed and head for home." She pulled the brim of her hat down a little and looked at me. "Am I right?"

"Yep," I answered. "Since we have the whole day, we can stop to look at anything that's interesting. Keep your eyes open."

"For what?" asked Jasper.

"Anything you want to investigate," I said.

"Oh, we're looking for evidence again, aren't we?" Shielding his eyes with his hand, Jasper stood in his stirrups, stretched out his long neck and started looking around. "This looks like a good place for a--"

"No, Jasper!" I interrupted. "We're not looking for evidence. We found all the evidence I ever hope to find when we went to Coyote Canyon a while back. That's another reason I wanted to ride this way today."

"What about special men?" asked Jasper. "Tom and me brung empty cartridge boxes to put them in, and--"

"Tom and I brought," I said.

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at Tom. Jasper rode beside me, looking at me and shaking his head.

"Well, now, Mr. Arty the Smarty," he said, "you interrupted me to tell me what you and Tom brought with you; but you can't remember what it was, can you?"

I looked first at Tom, then at Esther. Both were looking at the sagebrush in opposite directions, their bodies shaking with laughter. I gave up.

"What are 'special men'?" I asked.

Jasper looked surprised. "Don't you pay attention in school?" he asked. "Miss Ross asked us to get special men to look at when we go back to school. I got me a mess of them!"

Given a little time, I could usually figure out what Jasper was talking about. This time I had lost his trail.

Esther leaned toward me in her saddle and whispered, "Specimens."

"Oh, now I remember!" I said. "We want to watch for them for sure!" I wouldn't have traded a twenty-dollar gold piece for the satisfied smile on Jasper's face right then.