is own cowpunchers entertained fears for his sanity, and
made him acquainted with the fact in their well-known tender manner. This
did not serve to buoy his spirits, and he cursed himself roundly for the
ridiculous position into which he had led himself.

As to Juliet, he hardly dared pass a civil time of day with her, so
terrible a trial had his thwarted desires in regard to her become.

The fourth day after Bud's arrest old Beef Bissell called for his horse
and rode away to the Circle Arrow ranch. Old man Speaker had not seen fit
to rally to the cowmen's gathering, and Bissell valued his counsel very
much; he had, therefore, gone to fetch him.

During the three days of his absence Mike Stelton suffered another of
those reverses which are so exasperating because they are brought about by
our own ugly spirits.

All the time he had continued to eat at the ranch table, and had been
accorded his share of the conversation and attention. Now, with old
Bissell out of the way, his status immediately changed. Mrs. Bissell,
Juliet, and Bud were the best of friends, and presented a solid front of
uniform but uninterested politeness to the foreman against which he was
helpless. On the second day, for the first time in ten years, he moved his
seat down into the punchers' dining-room and ate with them.

Such a defeat as this could not pass unnoticed among the punchers, who had
never been accorded the pleasure of their gloomy foreman's presence at
meal times, and Stelton suffered keenly from the gibes of the men.

Stelton endured all this with seeming calmness, but when Bissell returned
the foreman got his revenge. He outlined with full detail and considerable
embellishment the constant progress that Larkin was making with Juliet.
Disclaiming any interest of his own in the matter, he explained that the
reason for his complaint was the character of Larkin.

"Why, boss, yuh shore wouldn't want a darned sheepman breakin' Julie's
heart," he said, "an' him a Eastern dude at that. You should 'a' seen that
feller. Yuh no more'n got yore back turned than he carried on with Juliet
all the time. It made me plenty mad, too; but what could I do about it? I
just moved my grub-pile down with the boys an' thought I'd tell yuh when
yuh came home."

A half an hour of this was sufficient to work Bissell up into a furious
rage, and, in something the same temper, he sent for Juliet an hour before
dinner.

Now, a man who is subjected to choleric