m the corral with dirty boots, ride herd on Sam
an' me the same way, mebbe cook us up some of them biscuits once in a
while, why, it'll be fine! Then there's yore schoolin'. Yore dad 'ud
wish you to have that. I don't suppose you've had a heap. An' you sabe,
Molly, that you swear mo' often than a gel usually swears."

She opened her eyes wide. "But I don't cuss when I say 'em. An' I don't
use the worst ones. Dad w'udn't let me. I can read an' write, spell an'
cipher some. But Dad needed me more'n I needed learnin'."

"But you got to have it," said Mormon earnestly. "S'pose them claims pan
out way rich and you git all-fired wealthy? Bein' a gel, you sabe
clothes, di'monds, silks, satins an' feather fuss. You'll want to learn
the pianner. You'll want to know what to git an' how to wear it. Won't
want folks laffin' at you like they laffed at Sam, time he won fo'
hundred dollars shootin' craps an' went to Galveston where a smart Alec
of a clerk sells him a spiketail coat, wash vest an' black pants with
braid on the seams.

"Sam, he don't know how to wear 'em, or when. His laigs sure looked
prominent in them braided pants. Warn't any side pockets in 'em,
neither, fo' him to hide his hands. Sam's laigs got warped when he was
young, lyin' out nights in the rain 'thout a tarp'. That suit set back
Sam a heap of money an' it ain't no mo' use to him than an extry shell
to a terrapin."

He grinned at Molly with his face creased into good humor that could not
be resisted. She laughed as Sam joined in, but the determination of her
rounded chin returned after the merriment had passed.

"If you did that--took my Daddy's place," she said, "why, we'd be
pardners, same as him an' me was. When the claims pan out, half of it'll
have to be yores. I won't stay no other way."

The glances of the three partners exchanged a mutual conclusion, a
mutual approval.

"That goes," said Sandy, putting out his hand. "Fo' all three of us.
When the mines are payin' dividends, we split, half on 'count of the
Three Star, half to you. Providin' you fall in line with the eddication,
so's to do yore dad, yo'se'f an' us, yore pardners, due credit when the
money starts comin' in. Sabe?"

"I don't sabe the eddication part of it," she answered. "Jest what does
that mean? I don't want to go to school with a lot of kids who'll laf at
me."

"You don't have to. As pardners," Sandy went on earnestly, "I don't mind
tellin' you that the Three Bar has put all i