came on. "You gentlemen seem bent
upon discussing matters of no interest to us," she said, "so we'll leave
you to fight it out alone. I'm sure you'll all agree with Hugh in the end.
Like General Grant, he's a very obstinate man."

No sooner were they seated in the big living-room than Mrs. Enderby began
to relate comical stories of her household. Her cats had fits and ran up
the wall. Her dogs were forever getting quilled by reason of foolish
attacks upon porcupines, or else they came home so reminiscent of skunks
that they all but smothered the cook. "Invariably they return from
encounters of this kind just as we are sitting at dinner," she explained.
"Furthermore, Enderby's ditches are habitually getting clogged, and
overflowing the lawn and filling the cellar, and he stands in terror of
his cowboys. When I think of all these irruptions and distractions,
England's order and routine seem heavenly; but Charley finds all this
amusing, more's the pity, and leaves me to set things in order. Most
ludicrous of all, to me, is his habitual claim that the ranch is paying. I
tell him there's an error in his bookkeeping somewhere, but he assures me
that his receipts exceeded his expenditures last year--which is quite too
incredible. You've no idea how high wages are and how little we raise."

"Oh yes, I have," laughed Mrs. Redfield, "and my cat had a fit too. Hugh
says it's the high altitude. I tell him it's melancholia."

Cavanagh showed himself. "I hear so much laughter I'm coming in, we're all
so insufferably political out here. And, besides, I came to see the
ladies, and I can only stay a few minutes longer."

"You're not going back to-night!" exclaimed his hostess.

"I must be on my own precinct by daylight," he replied; "the Supervisor
has an eye on me."

Mrs. Redfield explained to Lee Virginia. "He rode fifty miles over the
mountains--"

"Thirty," corrected Ross. "But what does that matter when I'm in the
company of such charming ladies?" he added, gallantly.

"And now he's going to ride all the way back to-night!"

"Think of that," gasped Mrs. Enderby, "and no moon!"

"How can you find your way?" asked Mrs. Bridges, to whom this was a
mortally dangersome journey.

"Oh, it's quite simple. If you don't bump against a tree or fall into the
creek you may be quite sure you're on the trail," laughed Ross.

Mrs. Redfield knew the true reason for his coming, and was not at all
pleased, "for with all Lee's personal ch