his tone and manner.
"You say that your aunt is one of--"

"My aunt by adoption," she corrected.

"Adoption?"

"I am not Daddy's natural daughter. He adopted me," explained the girl
in her frank way.

"Yes?" asked Ashton, plainly eager to learn more of her history.

Without seeming to observe this, she adroitly balked his curiosity--"So,
you see, Daddy's sister is only my aunt by adoption. Still, she has been
very, very good to me; though I love Daddy and this free outdoor
life so much that I insist on coming back home every spring."

"Ah, yes, I see," he replied. "Really, Miss Knowles, you must think me
a good deal of a dub."

"Oh, well, allowances should be made for a tenderfoot," she bantered.

"At least I recognized your queenliness, even if at first I did
mistake what you were queen of," he thrust back.

"So you still insist I'm a queen? Of what, pray?"

"Of Hearts!" he answered with fervor.

His daring was rewarded with a lovely blush. But she was only
momentarily disconcerted.

"I am not so sure of that," she replied. "Though it's not Queen of
Spades, because I do not have to work; and it can't be Diamonds,
because Daddy is no more than comfortably well to do--only six
thousand head of stock. But as for Hearts--No, I'm sure it must be
Clubs; I do so love to knock around. Really, if ever they break up
this range, it will break my heart same time."

"Break up the range? How do you mean?"

"Put it under irrigation and turn it into orchards and farms, as they
have done so many places here on the Western Slope. You know, Colorado
apples and peaches are fast becoming famous even in Europe."

"I do not wonder, not in the least--if I am to judge from a certain
sample of the Colorado peach," he ventured.

This time she did not blush. "I am quite serious, Mr. Ashton," she
reproved him. "Daddy owns only five sections. The rest of his range is
public land. If settlers should come in and homestead it, he would
have to quit the cattle business. You cannot realize how fearfully we
are watching the irrigation projects--all the Government reclamation
work, and the private dams, too. There seems to be no water that can
be put on Dry Mesa, yet the engineers are doing such wonderful things
these days."

Ashton straightened on his saddle. "That is quite true, Miss Knowles.
You know, I myself am an engineer."

"Oh!" she exclaimed in dismay. "You, an engineer? Have you come here
to see if our mesa can be irriga