for him. "I was thinkin' about it ridin' over here.
Alf, I don't like to give you up. As God is my holy judge, I like you--I
like you plumb down to the ground. You are a man an' a gentleman."

"Thank you." Henley's voice rang with a triumph he strove hard to
suppress. "Come in and put up your hoss and stay all night. I'll cook
you some supper and you can sleep in your bed, like old times."

"Much obliged all the same, Alf, but I reckon I can't. Het an' Dick both
laid down the law on that particular point. He's throwed that at 'er
several times already--I mean about lettin' you support me an' his Ma.
Seems like that sorter hurts his pride. He's threatened several times to
come over here an' instigate a civil war, but he won't do it right away.
He knows what a temper you got, an' I reckon he don't like the idea o'
that big tombstone already marked in Welborne's new graveyard. No, I
can't put up with you to-night. Het give me a five-dollar William to
defray expenses at the hotel, an' I sorter like the idea o' makin' a
splurge for a change. I'll make 'em give me the best drummer's quarters,
an' I'll order just what I want to eat."

Henley watched him remount and ride away, his legs swinging back and
forth against the flanks of the animal. He heard little Joe calling to
Dixie from the kitchen-door, and from the cow-lot her clear answering
"Whooee!" which came again in a softer echo from the nearest hill.

"I wonder what she is thinking?" he mused, the hot blood from his
surcharged heart tingling through his entire body. "I'd go to her now,
but she'd not like it. She wouldn't look at me while the old man was
talking. The sweet little thing is scared--she don't know what at, but
she's scared."

CHAPTER XLI

Although Henley, now grown oddly timid himself, made several efforts
within the next week to catch sight of Dixie, he failed signally. He
began by haunting the cow-lot at milking-time, but she did not come as
usual. From the front porch one evening he observed something that
explained this to him. It was the sight of little Joe driving the cow up
to the house instead of into the lot.

"She's milking up there to keep from meeting me," Henley said, his heart
growing heavy. "Maybe, after all, I've been hoping too much. Maybe she
sorter thought she'd like me well enough when I was bound to another,
like I was, but now she sees it different. Folks is likely to think
twice in a matter like this, for I mean business