t, his face all twisted up
in a wolf-snarl, but he couldn't look me in the eyes, an' he finally
tries to smile. Its a weak, sickly affair, but it is a smile all right,
an' he sez, "We'll just compete to see which is the best man at a
round-up, an' we'll settle it that way. The' ain't no use of us makin'
fools of ourselves over nothin' at all. I was just jokin' an' I didn't
think you'd be so blame pernicious about boldin' down an easy snap; so
as the' ain't really nothin' between us, we'll settle it that way."

I had been doin' some quick thinkin' while he was talkin', an' when he
finished, I broke out laughin', "Why, you blame rookie," sez I, "you
don't really think I was mad, do you? I see 'at you was only jokin'
right from the start, but I wanted to do a little play-actin' for the
boys here. That'll be the best way of all to settle it--see who's the
best man at a round-up."

He looked some relieved when he laughed--an' then he rubbed his neck. I
indulged in some hoss-play with Omaha, an' began to eat my breakfast;
but all the time I was thinkin'. I was thinkin' several different ways
too: first, was the' some truth in what Bill Andrews had said--was I
gettin' to be nothin' but the playmate of a girl? Then I wondered if
Jabez had studied over it any--I never had myself before. I knew that
he never cared nothin' about my wages, knowin' that I had saved him
more the night I brought Monody back than he'd ever pay me--but I
didn't want to be pensioned, an' I didn't care to be looked on as the
ranch watchdog. But the thing that finally came an' refused to leave
was a question--what right did I have to waste the best part of my life
loafin' around with a child? The' was a lot more o' these pesterin'
questions; but they all finally perched on Bill Andrews an' made me
want to blow him up with dynamite.

That was the swiftest round-up ever the Diamond Dot had. Bill Andrews
was a roper for true, an' I don't believe the' was a man in the West
'at could touch me those days. When me an' Barbie would be out ridin' I
was always practicin' with a rope or a gun, an' I had a dozen foller-up
throws 'at I've never seen beat. I did my work cleaner an' more showy'n
he did, but it couldn't be done much quicker. We finished three days
ahead of the schedule an' the boys said it was a tie. I had roped
twenty-six more calves'n he had, but they wanted to see us contest a
little more, an' they figgered out excuses for him. The' ain't nothin'
ev