, and grudging admiration all
in one.

Finally, catching the lamb by the hind leg she threw it by a twist
acquired through much practice and buckled a bell around its neck.

As she turned it loose and straightened up, she saw Disston. When he
smiled she knew him instantly and the color rose in her face as she
walked towards him, suddenly conscious of her clothes and grimy hands.
She was soon at her ease, however, and when he told her his errand the
radiance that leaped into her face startled him.

"Would I like to go?" she cried joyously. "There's nothing I can think
of that I would like better. I've never been to a dance in all my life.
I've never been anywhere. It's so good of you to ask me!"

"It's good of you to go with me," he said awkwardly, shamed by her
gratitude, remembering the wager.

"But I don't know how to dance," she said almost tearfully.

"You don't?" incredulously. He had thought every girl in the world knew
how to dance. "Never mind," he assured her, "I can teach you in a few
lessons."

So it was settled, and they talked of other things, laughing merrily,
frequently, while Mormon Joe and Teeters discussed with some gravity the
fact that it had been several months since the latter had been able to
get his wages from Toomey.

"I think he's workin' on borried capital and they're shuttin' down on
him," Teeters conjectured. "His 'Old Man,'" he nodded toward Hughie,
"has got consider'ble tied up in the Outfit, I've an idea. Anyhow, if I
git beat out of my money after the way Toomey's high-toned it over me--"
He cast a significant look at a fist with particularly prominent
knuckles.

"You hang on a while," Mormon Joe cautioned. "You may be boss of the
Scissor Outfit yet--stranger things have been waiting around the
corner."

Teeters shifted his weight in the saddle.

"Say," he confessed in some embarrassment, "a sperrit told me somethin'
like that only day 'fore yisterday. I was settin' in a circle over to
Mis' Taylor's and an Injun chief named 'Starlight' spelled out on the
table that all kinds of honor and worldly power was comin' to me. It
makes me feel cur'ous, hearin' you say it--like they was somethin' in
it."

Mormon Joe smiled quizzically but made no comment; perhaps he suspected
that the privilege of touching fingers with Miss Maggie Taylor while
waiting for the spirits to "take holt" had as much to do with Teeters'
interest in the unseen world as the messages he received from it. He