many fingers? Two? Well, we'll throw in the thumb. Y.D? If you please,
just a little snifter. All set?"

The rancher rose to his feet, and the company followed his example.

"Here's ho!--and more hay," he said, genially.

"Ho!" said Linder.

"The daughter of the Y.D!" said Transley, looking across the table at
the girl. She met his eyes full; then, with a gleam of white teeth, she
raised an empty glass and clinked it against his.

The men drained their glasses and re-seated themselves, but the women
remained standing.

"Perhaps you will excuse us now," said the rancher's wife. "You will
wish to talk over business. Y.D. will show you upstairs, and we will
expect you to be with us for breakfast."

With a bow she left the room, followed by her daughter. Linder had a
sense of being unsatisfied; it was as though a ravishing meal has been
placed before a hungry man, and only its aroma had reached his senses
when it had been taken away. Well, it provoked the appetite--

The rancher re-filled the glasses, but Transley left his untouched, and
Linder did the same. There were business matters to discuss, and it was
no fair contest to discuss business in the course of a drinking bout
with an old stager like Y.D.