CHAPTER 4A YEAR passed during which Dapple Gray learned that the ranch was his home, and he no longer wanted to run away. He made a sure place for himself in the affections of all the men at the ranch, but no one cared for him as much as Charley did. When Charley rode back to the ranch in the evening, the first thing he did was to scratch Dapple’s neck. In the evening when the men went in the house, Charley still stayed with Dapple and fed him lumps of brown sugar, making so much of him that Dapple singled him out among the men. Dapple was always looking for Charley. No matter how many of the men were around Dapple, stroking him, he would leave them at once and go to meet Charley if he saw him coming.
Charley often rode home some time before the other men just to see Dapple. Dapple was al
