ce,"
she said.

"Ah-huh! It's like getting up to work. Lenore, the biggest duty of life
is to hide your troubles.... Dorn looks like a human bein' this mornin'.
The kids have won him. I reckon he needs that sort of cheer. Let them
have him. Then after a while you fetch him out to the wheat-field.
Lenore, our harvestin' is half done. Every day I've expected some trick
or deviltry. But it hasn't come yet."

"Are any of the other ranchers having trouble?" she inquired.

"I hear rumors of bad work. But facts told by ranchers an' men who were
here only yesterday make little of the rumors. All that burnin' of wheat
an' timber, an' the destruction of machines an' strikin' of farm-hands,
haven't hit Golden Valley yet. We won't need any militia here, you can
bet on that."

"Father, it won't do to be over-confident," she said, earnestly. "You
know you are the mark for the I.W.W. sabotage. If you are not
careful--any moment--"

Lenore paused with a shudder.

"Lass, I'm just like I was in the old rustlin' days. An' I've surrounded
myself with cowboys like Jake an' Bill, an' old hands who pack guns an'
keep still, as in the good old Western days. We're just waitin' for the
I.W.W.'s to break loose."

"Then what?" queried Lenore.

"Wal, we'll chase that outfit so fast it'll be lost in dust," he
replied.

"But if you chase them away, it 'll only be into another state, where
they'll make trouble for other farmers. You don't do any real good."

"My dear, I reckon you've said somethin' strong," he replied, soberly,
and went out.

Then Kathleen came bouncing in. Her beautiful eyes were full of mischief
and excitement. "Lenorry, your new beau has all the others skinned to a
frazzle," she said.

For once Lenore did not scold Kathleen, but drew her close and
whispered: "Do you want to please me? Do you want me to do _everything_
for you?"

"I sure do," replied Kathleen, with wonderful eyes.

"Then be nice, sweet, good to him.... make him love you.... Don't tease
him about my other beaux. Think how you can make him like 'Many
Waters.'"

"Will you promise--_everything_?" whispered Kathleen, solemnly.
Evidently Lenore's promises were rare and reliable.

"Yes. Cross my heart. There! And you must not tell."

Kathleen was a precocious child, with all the potentialities of youth.
She could not divine Lenore's motive, but she sensed a new and
fascinating mode of conduct for herself. She seemed puzzled a little at
Lenore's ear