e Butte and had left our horses
out in front of the Occidental Hotel while we was in the dining-room
eating our dinners. We got outside just in time to see the stranger hit
the ground and Captain Jack jump on him with all four feet doubled up in
a bunch--he's buried in that little graveyard you might have noticed on
the hill this side of the river bridge."

"Killed him?" Carolyn June gasped.

"Seemed like it." Bert answered, with a grin; "anyway, we buried him."

"What did the--the Ramblin' Kid do?" she asked.

"He just laughed kind of soft and scornful," Skinny said, "and got on
Captain Jack and rode away while we was picking the fellow up!"

During the rest of the meal Carolyn June's eyes looked frequently and
curiously at the unused plate at her right. She felt, some way, that an
affront had been shown her by the absence of the one for whom it was
laid. The other cowboys, it was quite evident to her intuitive woman's
mind, had looked forward with considerable eagerness to the arrival of
herself and Ophelia. The Ramblin' Kid, at the very moment almost of
their reaching the Quarter Circle KT, had deliberately mounted Captain
Jack and ridden away. It seemed like little less than an intentional
snub! In addition to the half-resentment she felt, there remained in
her mind an insistent and tormenting picture of the slender, subtle,
young rider swaying easily to the swing of Captain Jack as he galloped
down the valley earlier in the day.

Bert, Charley, Chuck, before the meal was finished cast frankly admiring
glances at Carolyn June and Skinny plainly was gaining confidence at a
rapid rate, while Pedro, silent throughout it all, kept, almost
constantly, his half-closed eyes fixed in a sidelong look at the girl at
the end of the table.

Attention and admiration, Carolyn June expected from men. They had
always been hers. She was beautiful and was conscious of it. Had the
cowboys of the Quarter Circle KT not registered appreciation of her
charms by their looks Carolyn June would have believed something was
wrong with her dress or the arrangement of her hair. Her eyes--she was
sure of them--without effort lured men to her feet.

"It's hotter than blue blazes in here," Old Heck said when all had
finished; "we'd better go out into the big room. Maybe Carolyn June will
play some on the piano."

"The boys and me will go on out on the porch," Parker said as they
reached the front room, speaking significantly to Old Heck,