is mind. When Skinny and the girl were going toward their
horses the Ramblin' Kid turned and entered the gate. Sing Pete was still
at the kitchen door.

The Ramblin' Kid stepped up to him.

"You damned yellow heathen," he said in a level voice, "if you ever play
that trick on that cat again th' Quarter Circle KT will be shy a cook
an' your ghost'll be headin' pronto for China!"

Without waiting for a reply he went back to the gate and watched Skinny
and Carolyn June ride down the lane. The deftness and skill with which
the girl handled the horse she rode forced a smile of admiration to the
lips of the Ramblin' Kid. She sat close in the saddle and a glance
showed she was a born master of horses. "She's a wonder," he said to
himself, "a teetotal wonder--" A shade of melancholy passed over his
face. "An ign'rant, savage, stupid brute!" he murmured bitterly, "well,
I reckon she was right--Hell!" he exclaimed aloud, "I wonder if
Skinny'll remember about that upper crossin' bein' dang'rous with
quicksand after the rain--Guess he did," he finished as the two riders
turned to the right toward the lower and more distant river ford and
disappeared among the willows and cottonwood trees that fringed the
Cimarron.

CHAPTER VII

THE GREEDY SANDS

When the Ramblin' Kid, working the rope-conquered and leg-weary Gold
Dust maverick from the North Springs back to the Quarter Circle KT,
crossed the Cimarron at dawn Captain Jack and the filly swam a raging,
drift-burdened river. Less than twelve hours later Carolyn June and
Skinny, at the lower ford, rode into a stream that again was normal. Old
Blue and Pie Face splashed through water barely reaching the stirrup
leathers. Only the fresh rubbish flung out on the meadows by the flood's
quick anger or lodged in the willows, still bent by the pressure of the
torrent that had rushed over them and slimy with yellow sediment left on
their branches and leaves, told the story of the swift rise and fall of
the Cimarron the night before.

On the bluff north of the river Carolyn June and Skinny checked their
horses while the girl gazed down on the panorama of green fields, narrow
lanes, corrals and low buildings of the Quarter Circle KT. The sight
thrilled her. On all the Kiowa range there was no more entrancing view.

"It's kind of pretty, ain't it?" Skinny ventured.

"Beautiful!" she breathed.

"I'd--I'd like to stand here and look at it always--if you--if you'd
enjoy it!" he s