n a beautiful girl in the last act!"

"That's good," commented Creede, smiling grimly, "but say, that Mex.
will keep, won't he--because I'm due back in St. Louie."

"Oh!" cried Kitty, clasping her hands in despair. "St. Louis! And
won't I _ever_ see you any more?"

"Well, you might," conceded the cowboy magnanimously, "if you wait
around long enough."

"But I _can't_ wait! I've got to finish my last act, and I came clear
down here, just to hear you talk. You can't imagine how interesting
you are, after living up there in the city," she added naively.

"No," grumbled Creede, picking up his bridle lash, "but say, I've got
to be goin'!" He hooked a boot negligently into the stirrup and looked
back over his shoulder. "Anything else I can do for you?" he inquired
politely.

"Oh, you dear Jeff!" cried Kitty ecstatically, "yes! Do come back here
and let me tell you!" He kicked his foot reluctantly out of the
stirrup and stalked back, huge and commanding as ever, but with a
puzzled look in his eye.

"Bend your head down, so I can whisper it," she coaxed, and brute-like
he bowed at her bidding. She whispered a moment eagerly, added a word,
and pushed his head away. For a minute he stood there, thinking
ponderously; then very deliberately he pulled his six-shooter out of
his shaps and handed it over to her.

"All right," he said, "but say"--he beckoned her with an inexorable
jerk of the head--"what do _I_ git, now?" He looked down upon her as
he had on the morning they had parted, out behind the corral, and the
hot blood leaped into Kitty Bonnair's cheeks at the memory of that
kiss. For a moment she hesitated, twisting her trim boot into the
ground, then she drew the coveted pistol from her belt and handed it
back.

"Well, since you insist," he said, and very sternly he thrust the
redeemed weapon back into his shaps. A change came over him as he
regarded her; there was an austere tightening of his lips and his eyes
glowed with a light that Kitty had never seen before.

"That was a rough deal you gave me, girl," he said, his voice vibrant
with anger, "and I ain't forgotten it. You dropped your rope over my
horns and gave me a little run and then you took your turns and
_busted_ me like a wild steer! And then maybe you laughed a little,"
he suggested, with a searching glance. "No? Well, it's all right, as
far as I'm concerned--my hide's whole, and I'm rope-wise--but I'll
tell you, Miss Kitty, if you'd jest keep this gu