nnin' to believe it, myself. There's some things that seem to prove
it.

"First, there's him takin' your part over in Lamo. Then there's him
comin' here with you, knowin' you was alone--an' not botherin' you. Then
he guarded you right steady, not lettin' Haydon or Deveny run in on you.
Then he makes me foreman--which seems to prove that he's got sense. Then
he goes up the valley an' helps your brother bust up the outlaw gang,
riskin' his life a lot.

"An' all the time he knows where your dad hid that gold. But he didn't
touch it until he got over that scratch Deveny give him--or until he
could take you where it was hid an' show you he hadn't touched it. Yes,
ma'am," he added with a hyprocritical grin--which he did not permit the
girl to see--"I'm beginnin' to believe the cuss is on the level."

"Oh, he _is_, Linton!" said Barbara, in a low, earnest voice.

Again there was a silence. Then----

"Do you think he's a pretty good looker, ma'am?"

"I think he is handsome!" Again the girl blushed.

And again Linton grinned. He cleared his throat before he again spoke:

"Well," he drawled; "mebbe I wouldn't go that far. Mostly I don't care
for a handsome man, anyway. I wouldn't say he's ugly, an' I won't say
he's handsome. I'd light on a spot about halfway between them two
extremes. I'd say he ain't a bad looker. That would be about right."

"He _is_ handsome, Linton!"

"Well, likely he is--to a woman. I've heard that there's _been_ women
which thought him a heap good lookin'."

"Where, Linton?" she asked, quickly.

"Why, in Pardo, ma'am. There was a biscuit shooter in a eatin'-house
there that was sure wild about Harlan--she followed him around a heap."

"He didn't have anything to do with her, Linton?" she questioned,
stiffening.

"Shucks! Not him. Women never bothered him none. He always fought shy of
them--until now. He's changed a lot. I don't understand him no more.
Keeps a-moonin' regular about you. I'm gettin' a heap sick of hangin'
around him. Ain't you?"

"No!"

"Well, that's a heap odd, ma'am. I was thinkin' you didn't like him a
heap. Accordin' to that, I reckon you'd be right glad to see him--comin'
home from Pardo--where's he been to have that gold assayed?"

"He ought to be here before dark, Linton. And I shall be glad to see
him."

"Hopin' the gold will assay good, I reckon?"

"Hoping he will come back, safe."

"You don't care about the gold?"

"No."

"Only about him?"

"Yes, Linto