willin' to please me. Jack, you'll not buck ag'in' this deal?"

"That depends," replied Jack. "I'd marry `most any girl you wanted me
to. But if Columbine were to flout me as she used to--why, I'd buck sure
enough.... Dad, are you sure she knows nothing, suspects nothing of
where you--you sent me?"

"Son, I swear she doesn't."

"Do you mean you'd want us to marry soon?"

"Wal, yes, as soon as Collie would think reasonable. Jack, she's shy an'
strange, an' deep, too. If you ever win her heart you'll be richer than
if you owned all the gold in the Rockies. I'd say go slow. But
contrariwise, it'd mebbe be surer to steady you, keep you home, if you
married right off."

"Married right off!" echoed Jack, with a laugh. "It's like a story. But
wait till I see her."

* * * * *

At that very moment Columbine was sitting on the topmost log of a high
corral, deeply interested in the scene before her.

Two cowboys were in the corral with a saddled mustang. One of them
carried a canvas sack containing tools and horseshoes. As he dropped it
with a metallic clink the mustang snorted and jumped and rolled the
whites of his eyes. He knew what that clink meant.