t
friends. They saw each other as often as Martha could get time and
permission to ride in to Amarilla. Scylla could seldom visit the ranch,
for she was an invalid. When she had been a very little girl, a horse
had kicked her. She was ill for many weeks, and after the doctor had
told her parents that she would live, he had added that she might never
have full use of her right side again. It was partially paralyzed.

But Martha was seldom lonely. For in the daytime there was always
something to do around the ranch or store. She had her pet calf to
attend to, for one thing. He was given to her by a cow-boy who bought a
saddle from her brother one day, and who cried that evening when Martha
played "Home, Sweet Home" for him on her guitar. The calf was in several
respects remarkable. In the first place, he was almost black--an unusual
thing among Texas cattle. In the second place, he was not quite black,
for he had a white spot on his forehead shaped almost exactly like
Martha's guitar. That was why they called him "Gitter." In the third
place, Martha had taught him several tricks. He had learned to low three
times when he was thirsty, and twice when he was hungry; he would stand
on his hind legs and paw the air with his front legs for a moment when
Martha cried, "Up, Gitter!" and he would lie down and roll over on the
grass when she commanded "Down, Gitter!" She had a cat that would climb
up on her shoulder whenever he got the chance, and a clever dog that
liked the cat. She had two horses, also. One of them was an ordinary
"cow-pony," but the other was a big black Spanish horse who seemed to
love Martha as well as she loved him. When she was on his back he never
varied his long, swinging, graceful gallop by jumping or shying, but if
any one else rode him, he was apt to make them hold fast when he went
around corners. His name was "Dan." Martha thought almost as much of the
cow-pony, though, as she did of Dan, and called him "Texas," after the
great State she lived in.

Her brother, too, did many things to make her happy. In the long winter
evenings he often read to her for hours, or taught her new airs on the
guitar, of which he was a master; and sometimes, when summer came, they
took long rides off on the prairie together. These occurred when there
was a band of cow-boys camped near by, and John generally combined
business with pleasure by talking with them about cattle and saddles.
But that did not detract at all from