Cowboy Dave | Page 8

older and more sorrowful. A sigh came from him.
Gently he placed one arm over the youth's drooping shoulders.
"Dave," he said gently. "I hoped this secret would never come out--that you would never know. But, since it has, I must tell you the truth. I love you as if you were my own son, but you are not a relative of mine."
The words seemed to cut Dave like a knife.
"Then if I am not your son, who am I?" Dave asked in a husky voice.
The ticking of the clock on the mantle could be plainly, yes, loudly heard, as Mr. Carson slowly answered in a low voice:
"Dave, I don't know!"

CHAPTER IV
A SMALL STAMPEDE
Dave Carson--to use the name by which we must continue to call him, at least for a time--may have hoped for a different answer from the ranchman. Doubtless he did so hope, but now he was doomed to disappointment, for the words of Mr. Carson seemed final.
"Dave, I don't know," he repeated. "I don't know who you are, who your parents are, or even what your name is. I wish I did!"
Dave sank down in a chair. He seemed crushed. Mr. Carson, too, was somewhat overcome.
"There--there must be some explanation," said the lad at length, slowly.
"There is," was the reply. "I'll tell you all I know. I suppose I should have done it before, but I have been putting it off, I hoped there would be no need.
"I don't know just how Len and Whitey found it out," went on Mr. Carson. "If they had only kept still a little longer you might never have known, for I intended to go away from here soon."
"Go away from here, Dad?"
The endearing name slipped out before Dave was aware of it. A surge of red sprang up into his cheeks, under their tan.
"Don't stop calling me that, Dave," begged Mr. Carson in a low voice. I have been a father to you--at least I've tried to be."
"And you've succeeded," Dave said, affectionately.
"And I want to keep on in the same way," said the man, softly. "So don't stop calling me dad, Dave. I--I couldn't bear that, even though I have no right to it. But you asked me a question just now. I'll answer that before I go on with the story.
"I did plan to leave here. I'm not making this ranch go, Dave, as I'd like to see it. I have been thinking of giving it up. But that was before I knew that my secret about you was known."
"Then you're not going now,--Dad?"
Dave hesitated just a moment over the name.
"No. It would look like desertion--cowardice--as if I went because this matter became known. It will get out soon enough now, since the Molick outfit knows it. But that's just the reason I'm going to stick. I won't fly in the face of the enemy. I won't desert!
"The real reason why I intended to go, though, Dave, is because the ranch isn't making money enough. It is holding its own, but that is not enough. As you know, I was, up to a year or so ago, pretty well off. But those unfortunate cattle speculations pulled me down, so now I am really, what would be called poor, as ranchmen go.
"But I'll make good!" declared the cattle owner. "I'm going to stick now, until something happens. It may be for the best, or it may be for the worst. But I'll stick until I'm fairly beaten!
"The ranch needs more water, that's the main trouble. I haven't control of the water rights I need. I can't go into the cattle business on a large enough scale because of the lack of water. Rolling River and Forked Branch, while well enough in their way, aren't big enough to stand the dry years.
"That was the reason I was going to sell out, Dave, but I'm not now. I'm going to stick. And now I'll tell you the secret concerning you--that is as much of it as I know. It isn't much, for I know so little myself, so you will not be much wiser than you are now."
"Won't I know who I am?" Dave asked in a low voice.
"No, Dave, for I can't tell you myself. I wish I could. I wish I could either really find your parents, or know that I had a good legal claim on you. But that is impossible.
"Some years ago, Dave, I was in business in Missouri. I was doing fairly well, but I always had a hankering to get out West and raise cattle. I had lived on a ranch when I was a small lad--in fact all my people were ranchers--and I longed for the life of which I had had only a little taste.
"So I planned to sell out, raise all the money I