ile upon
them.

"Goodness, but I'm glad I don't have to cook supper! I haven't had
anything warm since morning."

Bowers stood with the broom in his hand, staring, while Kate removed her
cap and jacket. Then he cast an evil look upon the deputy, a look which
said, "You liar!"

As she made to get the food from the stove he interposed hastily:

"You set down, Ma'am."

Lingle gave him a look which was equally significant, a jeering look
which said ironically, "Woman hater!"

Bowers colored with pleasure when she lauded his "cowpuncher potatoes"
and exclaimed over the biscuits.

When Kate had finished she looked from one to the other and beamed upon
them impartially.

"It's nice to see people. I haven't seen any one for six weeks except
Uncle Joe," wistfully. "I wish he had come back with you--it's so
lonesome."

There was an immediate silence and then Bowers cleared his throat
noisily.

"Night 'fore last was tol'able chilly in your wagon, I reckon?"

Her face sobered.

"It was--terrible! I couldn't sleep for the cold, and thinking about and
pitying the stock on the range, and anybody that had to be out in it. I
was glad Uncle Joe was safe in Prouty--there was no need for us both to
be out here suffering."

Again there was silence, and once more Bowers came to the rescue with a
feeble witticism, at which he himself laughed hollowly:

"I hearn that a feller eatin' supper with a steel knife got his tongue
froze to it, and they had a time thawin' him over the tea kettle."

Kate rose to clear away and wash the dishes, but Bowers motioned her to
remain seated.

"You rest yourself, Ma'am. I was a pearl diver in a restauraw fer three
months onct so I am, you might say, a professional."

"Uncle Joe and I take turns," Kate laughed, "for neither of us likes
it."

"That's the best way," Bowers agreed, breaking the constrained silence
which fell each time Mormon Joe's name was mentioned. "More pardners has
fell out over dish-washin' and the throwin' of diamond hitches than any
other causes."

When, to Kate's horror, Bowers had wiped off the top of the stove with
the dishcloth and removed some lingering moisture from the inside of a
frying pan with his elbow, she said, rising:

"I'm up at four, so I go to bed early. You can sleep in Uncle Joe's
tepee," to Lingle, "and you needn't get up for breakfast when we do. I
suppose," to Bowers, "you'll want to start in to-morrow, so I'll go with
you and show you the r