dy?"

Like Mr. Stott, no question could be put to Mr. Hicks for which he could
not find an answer. He now replied promptly:

"Well, there's two ways: you can send to Mungummery-Ward and have a
crate sent out on approval, and keep tryin' till you find a set that
fits, or you can take the cast off your gooms yourself, send it on and
have 'em hammer you out some to order."

"Is that so? What kind of stuff do they use to make the cast of your
gooms of?"

"Some uses putty, some uses clay, but I believe they generally recommend
plaster of Paris. It's hard, and it's cheap, and it stays where it's
put."

A thoughtful silence followed; then Pinkey got up and joined Wallie, who
was sitting on the top pole of the corral, smoking moodily.

The "dudes" were at target practice with 22's and six-shooters, having
been persuaded finally not to use Mr. Canby's range as a background.
They now all walked with a swagger and seldom went to their meals
without their weapons.

Pinkey blurted out suddenly:

"I wisht I'd died when I was little!"

"What's the matter?"

"Oh, nothin'."

It was plain that he wished to be interrogated further, but Wallie, who
was thinking of Helene Spenceley and her indifference to him, was in no
mood to listen to other people's troubles.

After another period of reflection Pinkey asked abruptly:

"Do you believe in signs?"

To which Wallie replied absently:

"Can't say I do. Why?"

"If there's anything in signs I ought to be turrible jealous--the way my
eyebrows grow together."

"Aren't you?" indifferently.

"Me--jealous? Nobody could make me jealous, especially a worman."

"You're lucky!" Wallie spoke with unnecessary emphasis. "It's an
uncomfortable sensation."

Pinkey shifted uneasily and picked a bit of bark off the corral pole.

"Don't it look kinda funny that Miss Eyester would take any in'trist in
Old Man Penrose? A girl like her wouldn't care nothin' about his money,
would she?"

Wallie looked dour as he answered:

"You never can tell--maybe." He had been asking himself the same
question about Miss Spenceley, whom he had seen rather frequently of
late with Canby.

"Guess I'll quirl me a brownie and git into the feathers," glumly. "I
thought I'd go into town in the mornin', I want to do me some buyin'."

Wallie nodded, and Pinkey added as he unhooked his heels:

"You want to ride herd pretty clost on Aunt Lizzie. She's bound and
determined to go outside the fence huntin' mo