room in the yard for a cow," growled Big Hen. "Nor
chickens. Whatter yer goin' to do without a fresh aig, Snuggy?"

"I expect that will be pretty tough, Hen. But I feel like I must go, you
see," said the girl, dropping into the idiom of Sunset Ranch. "Dad wanted
me to."

"The Boss _wanted_ yuh to?" gasped the giant, surprised.

"Yes, Hen."

"He never said nothin' to me about it," declared the foreman of Sunset
Ranch, shaking his bushy head.

"No? Didn't he say anything about my being with women folk, and under
different circumstances?"

"Gosh, yes! But I reckoned on getting Mis' Polk and Mis' Harry Frieze to
take turns coming over yere and livin' with yuh."

"But that isn't all dad wanted," continued the girl, shaking her head.
"Besides, you know both Mrs. Polk and Mrs. Frieze are widows, and will be
looking for husbands. We'd maybe lose some of the best boys we've got, if
they came here," said Helen, her eyes twinkling.

"Great jumping Jehosaphat! I never thought of that," declared the foreman,
suddenly scared. "I never _did_ like that Polk woman's eye. I wouldn't,
mebbe, be safe myse'f; would I?"

"I'm afraid not," Helen gravely agreed. "So, you see, to please dad, I'll
have to go to New York. I don't mean to stay for all time, Hen. But I want
to give it a try-out."

She sounded Dud Stone a good bit about the big city. Dud had to stay
several days at Sunset Ranch because he couldn't ride very well with his
injured foot. And finally, when he did go back to Badger's, they took him
in a buckboard.

To tell the truth, Dud was not altogether glad to go. He was a boyish chap
despite the fact that he was nearly through law school, and a
sixteen-year-old girl like Helen Morrell--especially one of her
character--appealed to him strongly.

He admired the capable way in which she managed things about the
ranch-house. Sing obeyed her as though she were a man. There was a
"rag-head" who had somehow worked his way across the mountains from the
coast, and that Hindoo about worshipped "Missee Sahib." The two or three
Greasers working about the ranch showed their teeth in broad smiles, and
bowed most politely when she appeared. And as for the punchers and
wranglers, they were every one as loyal to Snuggy as they had been to her
father.

The Easterner realized that among all the girls he knew back home, either
of her age or older, there was none so capable as Helen Morrell. And there
were few any prettier.

"You're g