one yielded to the ravages of time, and been replaced by the rough and
ready garments of the frontier. Perchance - "

"Hall, have I got to make you let go of this pore devil!" Bob's powerful
figure came forward into the full light of the huge fireplace. One-half
the face above the comely form was hideously repulsive. It had been
literally torn away and what remained was so scarred and seamed that it
scarcely bore any resemblance to a human countenance.

His one remaining eye was large, dark and glowing with kindness as he
bent over the victim of his partner's latest joke.

"Ye-ah," drawled old Doc Smithers, precipitating a large mouthful of
brown liquid into the fireplace. "Bob, he'll pet 'im, an' that ol'
bulldog o' his'n 'ull lick im, an' next thing we know Bob'll be givin'
'im a claim, just like he took in Handsome Harry hisself goin' on two
years ago. Look at the dandy, struttin'! Bob buys 'im all them fancy
togs an' loves to see 'im wearin' 'em. White hands, an' red cheeks, an'
straight nose like a gal. Swan, ef he wasn't so ornery an' long-limbed
I'd a mind to call 'im one. Ef 'twant for his hidin' behind Bob so,
I'd - "

What he'd have done was never known, for the whole room-full of
prankish, loud-voiced, roistering men was suddenly struck dumb by the
unwonted sound of a lady's voice out in the darkness.

Bull-doze reached her first, Bob next, and Handsome Harry third. She was
only a slip of a young thing and the fright she got from the kindly rush
of the old bulldog was immeasurably increased by Bob's frightful
caricature of a face. She turned, shuddering, to the handsome,