ot wanted. The sooner you trail your big feet
off Temple land the better I'll like it!"

"Temple land? Since when was a tree considered as land, Miss Teresa
Arriega Temple?"

"Think that's funny?" she scoffed.

"And besides," he continued, "the tree is on Packard property. See
that old pine stump over yonder? And that big rock there? Those
things mark the boundary-line and you'll notice we're on my side!"

Terry's temper flamed higher in her eyes, flashed hotter in her cheeks.

"We are not! And you know we are not! The line runs yonder, just
beyond that big white rock on the creek-bank. And you are a good ten
feet on my side. Where, if you please, you are not wanted."

"That isn't a pretty enough thought to bear repetition," he offered
genially. "Look here, Terry Temple, what's the use----"

"Are you going? Or do you intend just to squat there like a toad and
spoil the view for me?"

"Toads are fat animals," he corrected her. "I'm not. More like a
bullfrog, if you like. What am I going to do? Why, just squat, I
guess."

As he leaned back against the limb which offered its support to his
shoulders Terry noted that he wore in full sight at his side the heavy
Colt he had bought the other night in Red Creek. A new habit, with
Steve Packard.

"Gunman, are you?" she jeered. "I might have known it. Gunmen are all
cowards."

He sighed.

"You can be the most irritating young lady I ever met. And why? What
have I ever done to you--besides save you from drowning? Since we are
neighbors, why not be good friends? By the way, where do you carry
your gun?"

"It's different with a girl," she said bluntly. "There's some excuse
for her. With the kind that's filling the woods lately she's apt to
need it."

"And you wouldn't be afraid to use it?"

"I'm not here to chin with you all day," observed Terry coolly. "And
you haven't told me what you're doing on my land."

"Your land?" he demanded.

"On my side of the line, then."

He considered the question.

"I'm here to meet some one," he answered finally.

"I like your nerve! Arranging to meet your friends here! Steve
Packard, you are the--the--the----"

"Go on," he prompted. "You'll need a cuss-word now; any other finish
will sound flat."

"--the _Packardest_ Packard I ever heard of!" she concluded. "You and
your friend----"

"No more my friend than he is yours," he said, interrupting her. "An
individual named Blenham. And I'm