tablishment was kept from falling apart. She
thought the gait of the lazy old nag the most amusing exhibition
possible, and as for the erratic jolts and groans of the wagon, it
struck her that this was a new form of exercise, the pleasurable
excitement and unexpectedness of which surpassed all former experiences.
At Cameron City she made purchase of a saddle-horse, a very well-made
bronco with dramatic possibilities in his eye.

"I don't know where you will get a sidesaddle," Stanwood had demurred
when the purchase was first proposed.

"A sidesaddle? I have it in my trunk."

"You don't say so! I should think it would jam your bonnets."

"Oh, I packed it with my ranch outfit."

So they jogged and rattled over to Cameron City, where Elizabeth had
made the acquisition, not only of a saddle-horse, but of two or three
most interesting new acquaintances.

"I do like the people so much, papa," she declared as they drove out of
town, having left the new horse to be shod.

"You don't mind their calling you 'Jake Stanwood's gal'?"

"No, indeed! I think it's perfectly lovely!"

"It cannot but be gratifying to me," Stanwood remarked, in the
half-satirical tone he found easiest in conversation with this near
relative; "in fact, I may say it _is_ gratifying to me, to find that the
impression is mutually favorable. Halstead, the ruffianly looking
sheep-raiser who called you 'Madam,' confided to me that you were the
first woman he had ever met who knew the difference between a horse and
a cow; and Simmons, the light-haired man who looks like a deacon, but
who is probably the worst thief in four counties, told me I ought to be
proud of 'that gal'!"

"Oh, papa, what gorgeous compliments! Don't you want a swap?"

"A what?"

"A swap. That's what we call it when we pay back one compliment with
another."

He turned and looked at her with an amused approval which was almost
paternal.

"It is most refreshing," he said, "to have the vocabulary of the effete
West enlivened with these breezy expressions from the growing East."

"But, papa, you must really like slang, now really! Uncle Nicholas could
never tolerate it."

"There you strike a chord! I desire you to speak nothing but slang if
Nick objects."

Agreeable badinage had always been a favorite pastime with Jacob
Stanwood. If Elizabeth had but guessed it, a taste of it was worth more
to him than all the filial devotion she held in reserve.

"And now for the swap," she