't a body? What if--what if you found some of your
cattle with--with a big D--run over your brand?" She had a perfectly
white line around her mouth and nostrils then, but she faced him
squarely.

"Hm-mm!" Seabeck gave her a quick, sidewise glance and pulled
thoughtfully at the graying whiskers that pointed his chin. "I would
have been glad to lend you money, or help you in any way."

"Yes, I know." Billy Louise snapped her reins impatiently. "But what
would you do about the--cattle?"

"What could I do? What would you want me to do? I should do whatever
would help you. I would--"

"Would you--be as ready to help somebody else? Somebody I--thought
a--lot--of?"

Seabeck, evidently, saw light. He cleared his throat and spat gravely
into a bush. "I see you don't trust me, after all," he said.

"I do. I've got to; I mean, I'd have to whether I did or not. It's
like this, Mr. Seabeck. It isn't the big D brand; of course you knew
it couldn't be. But it isn't yours, either. Someone was tempted and
was weak. They're sorry now. They want to do the right thing, and it
rests with you whether they can do it. You can shut them up in jail if
you like; you have a perfect right to do it. Some men would do that
and be able to sleep after it, I suppose. But I believe you're bigger
than that. I believe you're big enough to see that if a person goes
wrong and then sees the mistake and wants to pull back into the
straight trail, a man--even the one who has been wronged--would be
committing a moral crime to prevent it. To take a person who wants to
make a fresh, honest start, and shut that person up amongst criminals
and brand him as a criminal, seems to me a worse wrong than to steal a
few head of cattle; don't you think so, Mr. Seabeck?"

What Mr. Seabeck thought did not immediately appear in speech. He was
pulling a little harder at his whiskers and staring at the ears of his
horse.

"That would depend on the person," he said at last. "Some men are born
criminals."

"Oh, we aren't talking about that kind of a man. Surely to goodness
you don't call Charlie Fox a born criminal, or Marthy Meilke?"

"Charlie Fox! Is that the person you mean, who has been--"

"Yes, it is! And he is horribly sorry, and so is Marthy, and they'll
pay you for the cattle. And if you do anything mean about it, it will
simply kill poor old Marthy. You couldn't send her to the pen, Mr.
Seabeck. Think how she's worked there i