had no idea Mariedetta could love anybody."

"She is a volcano," Jean answered.

"Why, it's like a play!"

"And it goes on all the time."

"How gentle and sweet he is! I think he is charming. He is not at
all like the other cowboys, is he?"

While the two witnesses of the scene were eagerly discussing it,
Joy, the Chinese cook, emerged from the kitchen bearing a bucket
of water, his presence hidden from the lovers by the corner of
the building. Carara languidly released his inamorata from his
embrace and lounged out of sight around the building, pausing at
the farther corner to waft her a graceful kiss from the ends of
his fingers, as with a farewell flash of his white teeth he
disappeared. Mariedetta recovered her water-jug and glided onward
into the court in front of the cook-house, her face masklike, her
movements deliberate as usual. Joy, spying the girl, grinned at
her. She tossed her head coquettishly and her step slackened,
whereupon the cook, with a sly glance around, tapped her gently
on the arm, and said:

"Nice l'il gally."

"The idea!" indignantly exclaimed Miss Blake from her hammock.

But Mariedetta was not offended. Instead she smiled over her