Meanin' me--Jake Houck.
Understand?"

"I won't! I won't!" she cried. "You come here an' bully me
because--because of what you know about Father. If you were half a
man--if you were white, you wouldn't try to use that against me like you
do."

"I'm using it for you. Why, you li'l' spitfire, can't you see as Jake
Houck's wife you get a chance to live? You'll have clothes an' shoes an'
pretties like other folks instead o' them rags you wear now. I aim to be
good to you, June."

"You _say_ that. Don't I know you? I'd 'most rather be dead than married
to you. But you keep pesterin' me. I--I--" Her voice broke.

"If you don' know what's best for you, I do. To-morrow I got to go to
Meeker. I'll be back Thursday. We'll ride over to Bear Cat Friday an' be
married. Tha's how we'll fix it."

He did not take her in his arms or try to kiss her. The man was wise in
his generation. Cheerfully, as a matter of course, he continued:

"We'll go up to the house an' tell Tolliver it's all settled."

She lagged back, sulkily, still protesting. "It's not settled, either.
You don't run everything."

But in her heart she was afraid he had stormed the last trench of her
resistance.

CHAPTER VII

AN ELOPEMENT

Bob Dillon was peeling potatoes outside the chuck tent when he heard a
whistle he recognized instantly. It was a very good imitation of a
meadow-lark's joyous lilt. He answered it, put down the pan and knife,
and rose.

"Where you going?" demanded the cook.

"Back in a minute, Lon," the flunkey told him, and followed a cow trail
that took him up the hill through the sage.

"I never did see a fellow like him," the cook communed aloud to himself.
"A bird calls, an' he's got to quit work to find out what it wants. Kinda
nice kid, too, if he is queer."

Among the pinons at the rock rim above Bob found June. He had not seen
her since the day when she had saved him from a thrashing. The boy was
not very proud of the way he had behaved. If he had not shown the white
feather, he had come dangerously close to it.

"How are cases, June?"

His eyes, which had been rather dodging hers, came to rest on the girl at
last. One glance told him that she was in trouble.

"I don' know what to do, Bob," she broke out. "Jake will be back
to-day--by dinner-time, I reckon. He says I've got to go with him to Bear
Cat an' be married to-morrow."

Dillon opened his lips to speak, but he said nothing. He remembered how
he had counsele