"
"He changed the brands very skillfully, and no one got the dope on him
except this one man I mentioned; and that man kept his face shut.
He waited.
"So it went on for a good many years. The herd of our friend grew very
rapidly. He sold just enough cattle to keep himself and his wife
alive; he was bent on making one big haul, you see. So when his
doggies got to the right age and condition for the market, he'd trade
them off, one fat doggie for two or three skinny yearlings. But
finally he had a really big herd together, and shipped it off to the
market on a year when the price was sky-high."
"Like this year?"
"Don't interrupt me, Jack!"
From the shadow behind him she smiled again.
"They went at a corking price, and our friend cleared up a good many
thousand--I won't say just how much. He sank part of it in a ruby
brooch for his wife, and shoved the rest into a satchel.
"You see how careful he'd been all those years while he was piling up
his fortune? Well, he began to get careless the moment he cashed in,
which was rather odd.
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