huck said airily; "that ain't
nothing special! But the worst indication was them flowers she wore on
her bosom every day--_Old Heck bought 'em_!" he finished dramatically,
leaning over and speaking tensely as though it pained him immeasurably
to break the news to Parker while he fixed on Old Heck's rival a look he
imagined was one of supreme pity.

"Yeah, he had them sent up from Las Vegas," Bert added, picking up the
cue and lying glibly. "I saw the express agent deliver a box of them to
him one day. There was four dollars and eighty cents charges on 'em!"

A gleam, which the cowboys misunderstood, came into Parker's eyes.

"Why don't you and Old Heck fight a duel about Ophelia?" Bert suggested
tragically and in a voice that was aimed to convey sympathy to the
Quarter Circle KT foreman. "You could probably kill him!"

"Sure, that's the way they do in books," Chuck urged.

"Yes," the Ramblin' Kid broke in with a slow drawl, "fight one with
sour-dough biscuits at a hundred yards! That'd be sensible--then both of
you'd be genuine heroes!"

"Gosh, th' Ramblin' Kid's awake!" Bert laughed. "How does it happen you
ain't fell in love with Carolyn June?" he asked, turning toward the
slender, dark-eyed, young cowboy. "So far you're the only one that's
escaped. The rest of us are breaking our hearts--"

For an instant the Ramblin' Kid flashed on Bert a look of hot anger
while a dull red glow spread over his sun-tanned cheeks.

"There's enough damned fools loose on th' Kiowa range without me bein'
one, too!" he retorted slowly, getting up and going toward Captain Jack.

"Blamed if he'll stand a bit of joshing on that subject!" Bert
muttered, his own face flushing from the look the Ramblin' Kid had
given him.

"Not a darned bit," Chuck added, "but it is funny; the way he shys off
from Carolyn June!"

"Th' Ramblin' Kid ain't interested in women," Charley said, as they
pitched their plates to one side and the meal was finished. "He ain't
the kind that bothers with females!"

When Chuck had idly suggested that Old Heck and Ophelia might be married
before Parker and the Quarter Circle KT cowboys returned to the ranch
from the beef hunt, he did not know it, but the words he spoke in jest
voiced the very thought at the same instant in the mind of Old
Heck--miles away though he was. Perhaps it was mental telepathy, thought
vibration, subconscious soul communication--or a mere coincident, that
caused Chuck, far out on the ope