Meadowlark Basin

Lark, owner of the Meadowlark Ranch, had a habit of taking home all sorts of cripples and hurt creatures which he came across, so when he found a child bearing the scars of terrible beatings and crying in fear of another he promptly brought him to Meadowlark also, though the boy was the grandson of old Palmer,—rich and stingy and feared ranch-owner of the district. Palmer tried to brand Lark as a child stealer, but was himself "branded" by Lark's cowhide, much as the boy had been marked, an...