ball of
yellow butter in its wooden bowl.

After a brief silence, Hagar shook the tangle of unkempt, black hair
away from her moonlike face, and began talking in a soft monotone, her
voice now and then rising to a shrill singsong.

"Mebbyso Tom, mebbyso Sharlie, mebbyso Sleeping Turtle all time come
along," she announced. "Stop all time corral, talk yo' boys. Mebbyso
heap likum drink yo' butter water. Bueno."

When Phoebe nodded assent, Hagar went on to the news which had brought
her so soon to the ranch--the news which satisfied both an old grudge
and her love of gossip.

"Good Injun, him all time heap kay bueno," she stated emphatically, her
sloe black eyes fixed unwaveringly upon Phoebe's face to see if the stab
was effective. "Good Injun come Hartley, all time drunk likum pig.

"All time heap yell, heap shoot--kay bueno. Wantum fight
Man-that-coughs. Come all time camp, heap yell, heap shoot some more. I
fetchum dog--Viney dog--heap dragum through sagebrush--dog all time cry,
no can get away--me thinkum kill that dog. Squaws cry--Viney cry--Good
Injun"--Hagar paused here for greater effect--"makum horse all time
buck--ridum in wikiup--Hagar wikiup--all time breakum--no can fix that
wikiup. Good Injun, hee-e-ap kay bueno!" At the last her voice was high
and tremulous with anger.

"Good Indian mebbyso all same my boy Wally." Phoebe gave the butter a
vicious slap. "Me heap love Good Indian. You no call Good Indian, you
call Grant. Grant bueno. Heap bueno all time. No drunk, no yell, no
shoot, mebbyso"--she hesitated, knowing well the possibilities of her
foster son--"mebbyso catchum dog--me think no catchum. Grant all same my
boy. All time me likum--heap bueno."

Viney and Lucy nudged each other and tittered into their blankets,
for the argument was an old one between Hagar and Phoebe, though the
grievance of Hagar might be fresh. Hagar shifted her blanket and thrust
out a stubborn under lip.

"Wally boy, heap bueno," she said; and her malicious old face softened
as she spoke of him, dear as her own first-born. "Jack bueno, mebbyso
Gene bueno, mebbyso Clark, mebbyso Donny all time bueno." Doubt was in
her voice when she praised those last two, however, because of their
continual teasing. She stopped short to emphasize the damning contrast.
"Good Injun all same mebbyso yo' boy Grant, hee-ee-eap kay bueno. Good
Injun Grant all time DEBBIL!"

It was at this point that Donny slipped away to report that "Mamma a