The Ridin' Kid from Powder River

by Henry Herbert Knibbs

"All right. I might as well talk to the moon. I used to think that you were a wise one—"

"Just plain dam' fool, same as you, E.H. The only difference is that you're tryin' to help me out—and I aim to help out a kid that is plumb straight."

"But I have some excuse. If it hadn't been for you when I was down south on that Union Oil deal—"

"Ed, we're both as crooked as they make 'em, only you play your game with stocks and cash, inside—and I play mine outside, and she's a lone hand. This kid, Pete, is sure a bad hombre to stack up against—but he's plumb straight."

"You seem to think a whole lot of him."

"I do," said The Spider simply.

The president shook his head. The Spider rose and stuck out his hand. "So-long, Ed."

"So-long, Jim. I'll handle this for you. But I hate like hell to think it's the last time I can handle a deal for you."

"You can't tell," said The Spider.

The president of the Stockmen's Security sat turning over the papers on his desk. It had been a long while since he had been in the saddle—some eighteen or twenty years. As a young man he had been sent into Mexico to prospect for oil. There were few white men in Mexico then. But despite their vicarious callings they usually stood by each other. The Spider, happening along during a quarrel among the natives and the oil-men, took a hand in the matter, which was merely incidental to his profession. The oil-men had managed to get out of that part of the country with the loss of but two men—a pretty fair average, as things went those days. Years afterwards the president of the Stockmen's Security happened to meet The Spider in El Paso—and he did not forget what he owed him. The Spider at that time had considerable gold which he finally banked with the Stockmen's Security at the other's suggestion. The arrangement was mutually agreeable. The Spider knew that the president of the Stockmen's Security would never disclose his identity to the authorities—and Hodges felt that as a sort of unofficial trustee he was able to repay The Spider for his considerable assistance down in Mexico.