on as the real thing, by
these husky riders of the range, was little less than appalling.

It all but frightened Carolyn June and the widow.

Old Heck saw the worship in the eyes of the cowboys.

"Things sure are in a devil of a mix-up!" he growled to himself.

Skinny was so dejected Carolyn June felt half-guilty and tried to cheer
him up. She began talking, in a low voice, directly to the
melancholy-looking cowboy.

"To-day--or some time--when the others are away," she said caressingly,
"you and I will dance all the dances by ourselves!"

His heart leaped joyously. He was sorry, now, that he had not put on the
white shirt. He resolved, after a while, to sneak out to the bunk-house
and change.

The confidential talk between Carolyn June and Skinny galled Chuck. He
decided to break it up.

"What was your idea in riding the Gold Dust maverick last night?" he
said abruptly to the Ramblin' Kid.

There was a general pause for the answer. Carolyn June stopped in the
middle of a sentence and looked curiously at the Ramblin' Kid. He took
his time to reply.

"Because I wanted to!" was the slow unsatisfactory retort.

"Why didn't you wait till to-day, so the rest of us could see how she
acted?" Charley asked.

"What do you think you are"--he started to say--"a bunch of lawyers
cross-examinin' a witness?" thought better of it and with a careless
laugh answered: "If you're huntin' entertainment, why don't you go up to
Eagle Butte to th' picture show? Th' maverick an' me ain't no
exhibition!"

"Did she buck?" Charley continued, ignoring the sarcastic remark.

"Some," the Ramblin' Kid drawled.

"What you going to do with the filly while we're out on the beef hunt?"
Chuck queried, wishing to keep the conversation general.

"Ride her!" was the laconic reply.

"Ain't you afraid she'll break away from the _caballero_ and you'll lose
her again?" Charley asked.

"When I ain't usin' her I'll 'neck' her to Captain Jack," the Ramblin'
Kid answered patiently, referring to the method of fastening a wild
horse to one that is gentle and prevent its running away, by attaching a
short length of rope to the neck of each. "I don't believe she'd leave
th' stallion anyhow!"

"By golly," Chuck said earnestly and half-pleadingly, "I wish you'd put
her against that Y-Bar outfit's Thunderbolt horse in the two-mile
sweepstakes this year! It would be--"

"Fun to see her run!" the Ramblin' Kid interrupted, looking up quickly
and str