on some oil land. Still got it. Something happened to the railway about that time and they stopped work. That left me strapped and I hired out as a ranch hand. After that I went to punching down near Las Topas."
"Punching?" queried Fudge.
"Cows."
"You mean you were a cowboy?" asked Perry eagerly.
"Four years of it."
"Gee!" sighed Perry. "That must have been great!"
Mr. Addicks laughed. "Well, some of it wasn't so bad. I liked it pretty well. I was always crazy about horses and riding. I got enough of it, though. It don't get you anything. An uncle of mine died and a lawyer wrote me I was the old chap's heir and had better beat it back here and claim the estate. Which I did." He smiled wryly. "The estate was a tumble-down farm-house about three miles from here on the Springdale road with a mortgage all over it. There's so much mortgage you have to lift up a corner of it before you can see the house. Being still a trifle worse than broke, I got a job with a moving picture company in Jersey and rode for 'em almost a year. That was harder work than
being the real thing, and a sight more dangerous. I
174
