d and hastened toward her
coach.

A young lady who possessed in a high degree a very wholesome love of
adventure, Alice Marcum coupled with it a very unwholesome habit of
acting on impulse. As unamenable to reason as she was impervious to
argument, those who would remonstrate with her invariably found
themselves worsted by the simple and easy process of turning their
weapons of attack into barriers of defence. Thus when, an hour later,
Winthrop Adams Endicott found her seated alone at a little table in the
dining-car he was agreeably surprised when she greeted him with a smile
and motioned him into the chair opposite.

"For goodness' sake, Winthrop, sit down and talk to me. There's
nothing so stupid as dining alone--and especially when you want to talk
to somebody." As Endicott seated himself, she rattled on: "I wanted to
go to that preposterous supper they are going to 'dish up' at the
hotel, but when I found they were going to separate the 'ladies and
gents' and feed them in relays, I somehow lost the urge. The men, most
of them, are interesting--but the women are deadly. I know just what
it would be--caught snatches of it from the wagons during the
lulls--preserves, and babies, and what Harry's ma died of. The men
carry an atmosphere of unrestraint--of freshness----"

Endicott interrupted her with a nod: "Yes," he observed, dryly, "I
believe that is the term----"

"Don't be guilty of a pun, Winthrop. At least, not a slangy one. It's
quite unsuited to your style of beauty. But, really, wasn't it all
delightful? Did you ever see such riding, and shooting, and lassoing?"

"No. But I have never lived in a country where it is done. I have
always understood that cowboys were proficient along those lines, but
why shouldn't they be? It's their business----"

"There you go--reducing everything to terms of business! Can't you see
the romance of it--what it stands for? The wild free life of the
plains, the daily battling with the elements, and the mastery of nerve
and skill over blind brute force and fury! I love it! And tonight I'm
going to a real cowboy dance."

"Alice!" The word carried a note of grave disapproval. "Surely you
were not serious about attending that orgy!"

The girl stared at him in surprise. "Serious! Of course I'm serious!
When will I ever get another chance to attend a cowboy dance--and with
a real cowboy, too?"

"The whole thing is preposterous! Perfectly absurd! If you a