ch of a "dude" as the
man she had mentioned.

He was encountering the seemingly cruel fate of parents who glorify their
children by their own immolation, and who watch those same children pass
up and out of their humble range of vision and understanding nevermore to
return. Henceforth he could never see his daughter without feeling his own
lack of polish.

Such a moment of realization is bitter on both sides, but especially for
the one who has given all and can receive less in return than he had
before the giving. The iron of this bitterness entered into Beef Bissell's
soul as he stood there, silent, on the low, rickety veranda under the
starlight of the plains.

With the queer vagary of a mind at great tension, his senses became
particularly acute for a single moment. He saw the silver-pierced vault of
the sky, smelled the fragrance of the plains borne on the gentle wind, and
heard the rustle of the dappled cottonwoods and the howling of the distant
coyotes.

Then he came back to the reality of the moment, and exhibited the simple
greatness that had always been his in dealings with his daughter. He
slipped his heavy arm across her shoulders and drew her to him.

"Never mind, Prairie Bell," he said gently. "You know best in everything.
Do as your heart dictates." He sighed and added: "I wish I was your mother
to-night."

CHAPTER VIII

FOR REVENGE

Breakfast next morning at the Bar T ranch was disturbed by the arrival of
a cowboy on a lathering, wicked-eyed pony who announced to Stelton that
Bud Larkin and his sheep had crossed over into the range. What then
occurred is already known, and after Bissell had returned from his final
parley with Larkin, he retired sullenly into himself to rage silently.

In his perturbed state of mind, the sheepman's double-edged remark about
clearing out had had but one meaning, and he took it for granted that
Larkin had been awed or frightened into the better part of valor. This was
a partial relief, but he foresaw that although this danger to his cattle
was averted, it was merely the first of many such struggles that he might
expect.

Human desires, particularly those of great urgency, are of such domination
that they take little thought for anything but themselves, except in
persons of particularly adroit mind. It was Stelton's misfortune,
therefore, to embark on an ill-timed conversation with his chief.

The foreman for ten years had secretly adored Juliet Bissell