'em. But I'd give every cent I'm worth if he hadn't
gone out an' got Peg-Leg,"

"He never had any bringin' up, or at least he had the wrong kind." He
listened a moment with a little smile. From the kitchen, where Jim was
helping the young women wash the dishes, came a murmur of voices and
occasionally a laugh. "Funny how all good women are mothers in their
hearts. Polly's tryin' to save that boy from himself, an' I reckon maybe
Miss Lee is too. In a way they got no business to have him here at all. I
like him. That ain't the point. But he's got off wrong foot first. He's
declared himself out of their class."

"And yore sister won't see it that way?"

"Not a bit of it. She's goin' to fight for his soul, as you might say,
an' bring him back if she can do it. Polly's a mighty loyal little
friend, if I am her brother that tells it."

"She's right," decided Prince. "It can't hurt her any. Nothin' that's
wrong can do her any harm, because she's so fine she sees only the good.
An' it's certainly goin' to do the kid good to know her."

"If he'd git out of here he might have a chance yet. But he won't. An'
when he meets up with Champa or Dave Roush he's got to forget mighty
prompt everything that Polly has told him."

"I heard Roush was on the mend. Is he up again?"

"Yes. He had a narrow squeak, but pulled through. Roush rode into town
with Mysterious Pete to-night."

"Then they've probably come to gun Jim. I'll stay right with him for a
day or two if I can."

"What for?" demanded Roubideau bluntly. "You're not in this thing. You've
got no call to mix up in it. The boy saved Polly, an' I'll go this far.
If I'm on the spot when he meets Champa or Roush--an' I'll try to be
there--I won't let'em both come at him without takin' a hand. But he
has got to choose his own way in life. I can't stand between him an' the
consequences of his acts. He's got to play his own hand."

"Did Dave Roush an' Mysterious Pete seem pretty friendly?"

"Thicker than three in a bed."

"Looks bad." Billie came to another phase of the situation. "How does it
happen that Snaith's outfit have let Jim stay here without gettin' after
him? Nothin' but a necktie party would suit 'em when we left in the
spring."

"Times have changed," explained Roubideau. "This is quite a trail town
now. The big outfits are bringin' in a good deal of money. Snaith can't
run things with so high a hand as he did. Besides, there are a good many
of the trail punchers