d down the bar that held it, and the
vessel clattered upon the hearth. She started as if a gun had exploded
at her elbow.

CHAPTER III

DALLAS MAKES A FRIEND

"Y-a-a-as," drawled Lancaster, reflectively, gnawing the while at a
fresh slab of tobacco, "we jes' nat'ally mavericked this claim."

A fortnight had passed since his return from the land-office. In that
time, his fear had slowly vanished, his confidence returned. And he had
begun to show streaks of the bravado that, in his stronger days, made
him an efficient section-boss. Rosy dreams, even, beset his
brain--dreams upon which Marylyn, despising her father's meaner
structures (and kept in ignorance of what might, at any moment, raze
them), piled many a rainbow palace. For, to the younger girl, certain
calico-covered books on the mantel had invested the events of the
fortnight just gone with a delightful tinge of romance.

Dallas, however, took a sensible view of their situation. She pointed
out that the man who had made an entry for the land would, in all
probability, return; and that if he did not, five years, at least, would
pass before the railroad reached them. Meanwhile, the quarter-section
should be properly filed upon for possession and farmed for a living.
Now, as she brushed the hearth clean with the wing of a duck, she
listened quietly to her father's confident boasting.

"It's this way, m' gal:" he said--he compassed a goodly quid and shifted
it dexterously into the sagging pocket of a cheek--"Inside o' six
months after a man files, he's got t' dig a dugout er put up a shanty.
He's got t' do a leetle farm-work, an' sleep on his claim. When thet six
months is up, ef he ain't done no buildin' er farmin', th' claim's
abandoned, an' th' first man comin' along c'n hev it.

"In _this_ case, th' gent in question ain't built, dug er farmed. Ef he
was t' show up an' want this quarter, he could git it by payin' fer our
improvements. Ah reckon we'd hev t' sell an' pull our freight. But ef he
was t' show up an' _not_ pay like a' honest man, they'd--they'd--wal,
they'd likely be a _leetle_ disagreement."

Dallas shook her head. "If he comes before his six months is up and
improves, we got to go. That would be the only square thing. Ain't it
so?"

"Wal--wal----" began Lancaster, lamely.

"It is," she said. "He filed on the quarter, and we had no right to
settle----"

"We _hev_ settled, an' th' lan' 's goin' t' be worth money," broke in
her fath