d shoulder.

"G'way!" remarked Red. "I don't want no introduction, none whatever," he
asserted. "G'way!" he repeated, backing off suspiciously.

"Better wait 'til yu are asked," suggested Buck. "Better wait 'til yu
sees th' rope afore yu duck." Then he laughed: "Yu bashful fellers make
me plumb disgusted. Why, I've seen yu face a bunch of guns an never turn
a hair, an' here yore all in because yu fear yu'll have to stand
around an' hide yore hands. She won't bite yu. Anyway, from what I saw,
Hopalong is due to be her grub--he never saw me at all, th' chump."

"He shore didn't see me, none," replied Red with distinct relief. "Are
they gone?"

"Shore," answered Buck. "An' if they wasn't they wouldn't see us, not
if we stood in front of them an' yelled. She's a hummer-stands two hands
under him an' is a whole lot prettier than that picture Cowan has got
over his bar. There's nothing th' matter with his eyesight, but he's
plumb locoed, all th' same. He'll go an' get stuck on her an' then
she'll hit th' trail for home an' mamma, an' he won't be worth his feed
for a year." Then he paused in consternation: "Thunder, Red: he's got to
shoot to-morrow!"

"Well, suppose he has?" Responded Red. "I don't reckon she'll stampede
his gun-play none.

"Yu don't reckon, eh?" Queried Buck with much irony. "No, an' that's
what's th' matter with yu. Why, do yu expect to see him to-morrow? Yu
won't if I knows him an' I reckon I do. Nope, he'll be follerin' her all
around."

"He's got sand to burn," remarked Red in awe. "Wonder how he got to know
her?"

"Yu can gamble she did th' introducing part--he ain't got th' nerve to
do it himself. He saved her life, or she thinks he did, or some romantic
nonsense like that. So yu better go around an' get him away, an' keep
him away, too."

"Who, me?" Inquired Red in indignation. "Me go around an' tote him off?
I ain't no wagon: yu go, or send Johnny."

"Johnny would say something real pert an' get knocked into th' middle
of next week for it. He won't do, so I reckon yu better go yoreself,"
responded Buck, smiling broadly and moving off.

"Hey, yu! Wait a minute!" cried Red in consternation. Buck paused and
Red groped for an excuse: "Why don't you send Billy?" He blurted in
desperation.

The foreman's smile assumed alarming proportions and he slapped his
thigh in joy: "Good boy!" he laughed. "Billy's th' man--good Lord, but
won't he give Cupid cold feet! Rustle around an' send th' pessimi