d coughed again,
hoarsely, rackingly. Then he lay quiet, except for his rasping breath
and watched.

Billy Louise, with the tablet on her trembling knees, pretended to
write. From under her lashes she watched Ward curiously. She saw his
attention waver, saw his eyes wander aimlessly about the room. She sat
very still and waited, making scrawly marks that had no meaning at all.
She saw Ward's fingers loosen on the revolver, saw his head turn
wearily on the pillow. He was staring out through the window at the
brilliant blue of the sky with the dazzling white clouds drifting like
bits of cotton to the northward. He had forgotten her.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE HOOKIN'-COUGH MAN

Billy Louise waited another minute or two, weighing the possibilities.
She saw Ward's fingers drop away from the gun, but they remained close
enough for a dangerously quick gripping of it again, if the whim seized
him. Still--surely to goodness, Ward would never get crazy enough to
hurt her! Perhaps her feminine assurance of her hold on him, more than
her courage, kept her nerves fairly steady. She bit the pencil
absently, watching him.

Ward turned his head restlessly on the pillow and coughed again. Billy
Louise got up quietly, went close to the bed, and laid her hand on his
forehead. His head was hot, and the veins were swollen and throbbing
on his temples.

"Brave Buckaroo got a headache?" she queried softly, stroking his
temples soothingly. "Got the hookin'-cough, too. Get every measly
thing he can think of. Even got a grouch against the Flower of the
Ranch-oh!" Her voice was crooningly soft and sweet, as if she were
murmuring over a sleepy baby.

Ward closed his eyes, opened them, and looked up into her face. One
hand came up uncertainly and caught her fingers closely.
"Wilhemina-mine!" he said, in his hoarse voice. His eyes cleared to
sanity under her touch.

Billy Louise drew a small sigh of relief and reached unobtrusively with
her free hand for the gun. She slid it down away from his fingers, and
when he still paid no attention, she picked it up quite openly and laid
it against the footboard. Ward did not say anything. He seemed
altogether occupied with the amazing reality of her presence. He clung
to her fingers and looked at her with that intent stare of his, as if
he were trying to hold her there by the sheer power of his will.

"Well, how am I going to doctor you and feed you and make you all
comfy, wit