eet, high voice pealed
out:

"Roy! Oh, what a mustang! Whose is he?"

"Wal, Bo, if all I hear is so he belongs to you," replied Roy with a
huge grin.

Bo appeared in the door. She stepped out upon the porch. She saw the
cowboy. The excited flash of her pretty face vanished as she paled.

"Bo, I shore am glad to see you," drawled Las Vegas, as he stepped
forward, sombrero in hand. Helen could not see any sign of confusion in
him. But, indeed, she saw gladness. Then she expected to behold Bo run
right into the cowboys's arms. It appeared, however, that she was doomed
to disappointment.

"Tom, I'm glad to see you," she replied.

They shook hands as old friends.

"You're lookin' right fine," he said.

"Oh, I'm well.... And how have you been these six months?" she queried.

"Reckon I though it was longer," he drawled. "Wal, I'm pretty tip-top
now, but I was laid up with heart trouble for a spell."

"Heart trouble?" she echoed, dubiously.

"Shore.... I ate too much over heah in New Mexico."

"It's no news to me--where your heart's located," laughed Bo. Then she
ran off the porch to see the blue mustang. She walked round and round
him, clasping her hands in sheer delight.

"Bo, he's a plumb dandy," said Roy. "Never seen a prettier hoss. He'll
run like a streak. An' he's got good eyes. He'll be a pet some day. But
I reckon he'll always be spunky."

"Bo ventured to step closer, and at last got a hand on the mustang, and
then another. She smoothed his quivering neck and called softly to him,
until he submitted to her hold.

"What's his name?" she asked.

"Blue somethin' or other," replied Roy.

"Tom, has my new mustang a name?" asked Bo, turning to the cowboy.

"Shore."

"What then?"

"Wal, I named him Blue-Bo," answered Las Vegas, with a smile.

"Blue-Boy?"

"Nope. He's named after you. An' I chased him, roped him, broke him all
myself."

"Very well. Blue-Bo he is, then.... And he's a wonderful darling horse.
Oh, Nell, just look at him.... Tom, I can't thank you enough."

"Reckon I don't want any thanks," drawled the cowboy. "But see heah, Bo,
you shore got to live up to conditions before you ride him."

"What!" exclaimed Bo, who was startled by his slow, cool, meaning tone,
of voice.

Helen delighted in looking at Las Vegas then. He had never appeared to
better advantage. So cool, careless, and assured! He seemed master of
a situation in which his terms must be accepted. Yet he might have been