e didn't mean any more than the other."

"Shore I did more than Simm Bruce an' Colter," he retorted. "They never
asked you to marry."

"No, they didn't. And if I could respect them at all I'd do it because
they didn't ask me."

"Wal, I'll be dog-goned!" ejaculated Daggs, thoughtfully, as he stroked
his long mustache.

"I'll say to them what I've said to y'u," went on Ellen. "I'll tell
dad to make y'u let me alone. I wouldn't marry one of y'u--y'u loafers
to save my life. I've my suspicions about y'u. Y'u're a bad lot."

Daggs changed subtly. The whole indolent nonchalance of the man
vanished in an instant.

"Wal, Miss Jorth, I reckon you mean we're a bad lot of sheepmen?" he
queried, in the cool, easy speech of a Texan.

"No," flashed Ellen. "Shore I don't say sheepmen. I say y'u're a BAD
LOT."

"Oh, the hell you say!" Daggs spoke as he might have spoken to a man;
then turning swiftly on his heel he left her. Outside he encountered
Ellen's father. She heard Daggs speak: "Lee, your little wildcat is
shore heah. An' take mah hunch. Somebody has been talkin' to her."

"Who has?" asked her father, in his husky voice. Ellen knew at once
that he had been drinking.

"Lord only knows," replied Daggs. "But shore it wasn't any friends of
ours."

"We cain't stop people's tongues," said Jorth, resignedly

"Wal, I ain't so shore," continued Daggs, with his slow, cool laugh.
"Reckon I never yet heard any daid men's tongues wag."

Then the musical tinkle of his spurs sounded fainter. A moment later
Ellen's father entered the cabin. His dark, moody face brightened at
sight of her. Ellen knew she was the only person in the world left for
him to love. And she was sure of his love. Her very presence always
made him different. And through the years, the darker their
misfortunes, the farther he slipped away from better days, the more she
loved him.

"Hello, my Ellen!" he said, and he embraced her. When he had been
drinking he never kissed her. "Shore I'm glad you're home. This heah
hole is bad enough any time, but when you're gone it's black.... I'm
hungry."

Ellen laid food and drink on the table; and for a little while she did
not look directly at him. She was concerned about this new searching
power of her eyes. In relation to him she vaguely dreaded it.

Lee Jorth had once been a singularly handsome man. He was tall, but
did not have the figure of a horseman. His dark hair was streaked wi