ook a cabinet photograph, which he
handed to Jeff. That gentleman became excited at once.

"I knew it--I knew it!" he exclaimed. "She's a--_peach_! Bud, I'm
mighty glad ye showed me this. Jee--whiz! Yes, and like you, only ten
thousand times better-lookin'. What's her name, Bud?"

"You don't want to know her name."

"I want to--the worst kind. My! Look at that cunning little curl! And
her shape! You know nothing o' that yet, Bud, but I tell ye, sir, yer
sister is put up just right according to my notions. Not too tall.
Them strung-out, trained-to-a-hair, high-falutin girls never did fetch
me. I like 'em round, and soft, and innocent. What's her name, sonny?"

"Sarah."

"Sairy! Bud, I don't believe that. Sairy! I never did cotton to Sairy.
Yer pullin' my leg, ye young scallywag. The nerve! No--ye don't."

Jeff had stretched out a long, lean arm, and seized the boy by the
shoulder in a grasp which tightened cruelly.

"Oh--oh!"

"Tell me her right name, ye little cuss, or I'll squeeze ye into
pulp."

"Lemmee go! Dad calls her Sadie."

Jeff released the shoulder, grinning.

"Sadie--that's a heap better. I--I could love to--to distraction a
girl o' the name o' Sadie."

"If Sadie were here----" Bud had removed himself to a respectful
distance, and was now glaring at Jeff, and rubbing his bruised
shoulder.

"I wish she was, I wish she was. You were saying, Bud----"

"I was saying that if Sadie were here, she'd fix you mighty quick."

"Would she? God bless her!" He stared sentimentally at the photograph.

"Yes, she would. She'd let you know that a girl may be round--an'
soft--an' innocent--and a holy terror, too, when a big, blundering
galoot of a dep'ty-sheriff talks o' loving somebody to whom he's never
been introduced, and never likely to be, neither."

Jeff looked up in amazement.

"Why, Bud; why, sonny--ye're real mad! Why, you silly little whipper-
snapper, ye don't think I'd talk that way if the young lady was
around. Great Scot! Look ye here! Now--now I ain't goin' to hurt ye
any. Come nearer. Ye won't? Well, then, don't! But, strictly between
ourselves, I'll tell ye something, although it's agen myself. If your
sister was here, right now, I--I'm so doggoned bashful--I wouldn't
have a word to say--that's a fact."

"I wish she were here," said Bud, savagely.

"Now, Bud; that's a real nasty one. Ye don't mean that. Did I hurt yer
shoulder, sonny?"

"Hurt it? I'll bet it's black and blue most al