"Oh, you didn't say so, but I don't need a church to fall on me before
I can take a hint. You acted as though you liked him that day you and
him came riding into camp."

"I didn't do any such thing, Dick France. I don't like him at all,"
very decidedly.

"All the boys do-- all but Jed. I don't reckon he does."

"Do I have to like him because the boys do?" she demanded.

"O' course not." Dick stopped, trying to puzzle it out. "He says you
ain't to blame, that he lied to you. That seems right strange, too. It
ain't like Steve to lie."

"How do you know so much about him? You haven't known him a week."

"That's what Jed says. I say it ain't a question of time. Some men
I've knew ten years I ain't half so sure of. He's a man from the
ground up. Any one could tell that, before they had seen him five
minutes "

Secretly, the girl was greatly pleased. She so wanted to believe that
Dick was right. It was what she herself had thought.

"I wish you'd seen him the day he pulled Siegfried out of Lost Creek.
Tell you, I thought they were both goners," Dick continued.

"I expect it was most ankle-deep," she scoffed. "Hello, we're past