such a person?" I exclaimed.

There was surprise in the grave glance which the cow-puncher gave me.
"Why, any man would," he answered. "I wanted her myself, till I found
she was good."

I looked at this son of the wilderness, standing thoughtful and splendid
by the fire, and unconscious of his own religion that had unexpectedly
shone forth in these last words. But I said nothing; for words too
intimate, especially words of esteem, put him invariably to silence.

"I had forgot to mention her looks to yu'." he pursued, simply. "She is
fit for a man." He stopped again.

"Then there was her wages that Hank saw paid to her," he resumed. "And
so marriage was but a little thing to Hank--agaynst such a heap of
advantages. As for her idea in takin' such as him--maybe it was that he
was small and she was big; tall and big. Or maybe it was just his white
teeth. Them ridiculous reasons will bring a woman to a man, haven't
yu' noticed? But maybe it was just her sorrowful, helpless state, left
stranded as she was, and him keeping himself near her and sober for a
week.

"I had been seein' this hyeh Yellowstone Park, takin' in its geysers,
and this and that, for my enjoyment; and when I found what they claimed
about its strange sights to be pretty near so, I landed up at Galena
Creek to watch the boys prospectin'. Honey Wiggin, yu' know, and McLean,
and the rest. And so they got me to go down with Hank to Gardner for
flour and sugar and truck, which we had to wait for. We lay around the
Mammoth Springs and Gardner for three days, playin' cyards with friends.
And I got plumb interested in them tourists. For I had partly forgot
about Eastern people. And hyeh they came fresh every day to remind a man
of the great size of his country. Most always they would talk to yu' if
yu' gave 'em the chance; and I did. I have come mighty nigh regrettin'
that I did not keep a tally of the questions them folks asked me. And
as they seemed genu-winely anxious to believe anything at all, and the
worser the thing the believinger they'd grow, why I--well, there's times
when I have got to lie to keep in good health.

"So I fooled and I fooled. And one noon I was on the front poach of the
big hotel they have opened at the Mammoth Springs for tourists, and the
hotel kid, bein' on the watchout, he sees the dust comin' up the hill,
and he yells out, 'Stage!'

"Yu've not saw that hotel yet, seh? Well, when the kid says 'Stage,' the
consequences is most su