orning was sagging the cloth a little. He had been
on the point of giving it to Billy Louise, but he let it stay where it
was and instead took down his own rope to get after the snake, that had
crawled under a bush and there showed a disposition to fight. And
since Blue was no fonder of rattlesnakes than he was of mud, Billy
Louise could not bring him close enough for a direct blow.

"Get back, and I'll show you why I named this cayuse Rattler," Ward
shouted. "I'll bet I've killed five hundred snakes with him--"

"Almost as many as you have wolves!" Billy Louise snapped back at him
and so lost her point just when she had practically gained it. Ward
certainly would not tell her, after that stab.

Rattler perked his ears forward toward the strident buzzing which once
heard is never forgotten, and which is never heard without a tensing of
nerves. He sighted the snake, coiled and ready for war in the small
shade of a rabbit-bush. He circled the spot warily, his head turned
sidewise, and his eyes fixed upon the flattened, ugly head with its
thread of a darting tongue.

Ward pulled his gun, "threw down" on the snake, and cut off its head
with a bullet.

"I could have done that myself," Billy Louise asserted jealously.

"Well, I forgot. Next time I'll let you do the shooting. I was going
to show you how Rattler helps. He'll circle around just right so I can
make one swing of the rope do. But Mr. Snake stuck too close to that
rabbit brush; and I was afraid if I drove him out of there with my
rope, he'd get under those rocks. I'm sorry, Wilhemina. I didn't
think."

"Oh, I can get all the snake-shooting I want, any time." Billy Louise
laughed good-humoredly. "I wish you'd give Blue a few lessons--the old
sinner!"

"Not on your life, I won't." Ward leaned from the saddle, picked up
the snake by the tail, pinched off the rattles, and dropped the
repulsive thing to the ground with a slight shiver of relief. He gave
the rattles to Billy Louise. "I'm glad Blue does feel a wholesome
respect for rattlers; he'll take better care of himself--and his
mistress. With me it doesn't matter."

"Oh--doesn't it?" asked Billy Louise, and there was that in her tone
that made Ward's heart give a flop. "There's some of Marthy's cattle
right ahead," she added hurriedly, seizing the first trifle with which
to neutralize the effect of that tone.

"MK monogram," said Ward absently, reading the brand mechanically, as
is the