y but kindly to the horse, "be
careful! It's all right, Boy--you're goin' to carry double this one
time!"

The broncho stood passive while the Ramblin' Kid helped Carolyn June to
his back.

"You set behind," he said, "it'll be easier to hold on an' I can handle
th' horse better!"

She slipped back of the saddle and he swung up on to the little roan.
With one hand Carolyn June grasped the cantle of the saddle, the other
she reached up and laid on the arm of the Ramblin' Kid--the touch sent a
thrill through her body and the cowboy felt a response that made his
heart quiver as they turned and rode toward the Quarter Circle KT.

For a mile neither spoke.

"I--I--am sorry for what--I said this morning," Carolyn June whispered
at last haltingly, feeling intuitively that the cruel words--"an
ignorant, savage, stupid brute"--were repeating themselves in her
companion's mind.

"It's all right," he answered without looking around and in a voice
without emotion, "it was th' truth--" with a hopeless laugh. "I'm a
damn' fool besides!"

CHAPTER VIII

QUICK WITH A VENGEANCE

Old Heck rode in advance of Charley and Bert as the trio returned from
repairing the fences wrecked by the flood that had swept over the east
bottom-lands of the Quarter Circle KT. All morning he had been silent
and morose. Only when necessary had he spoken while he directed the
cowboys at their labor, helped them reset posts, or untangle twisted
wires and build up again that which the rush of water had torn down. The
damage had not been great and by noon the fence was as good as new. As
soon as the breaks were mended the moody owner of the Quarter Circle KT
mounted his horse and started for the house.

"Them women coming or something has got Old Heck's goat," Bert remarked
to Charley as they climbed on their horses and followed a moment later.

"Something's got it," Charley answered, "he ain't acted natural all
day--do you reckon he's sore because Parker took the widow to town?"

"Darned if I know," Bert said doubtfully, "that might be it."

"Well, he's feverish and disagreeable for some reason or other and
that's the way people generally get when they're jealous," Charley
observed sagely.

"He hadn't ought to be," Bert argued, "it's Parker's day to keep company
with Ophelia, and Old Heck and him agreed to split."

"If he's in love he won't split," Charley retorted with conviction, "I
never saw two men take turn about loving the same w