d with her. For, already, he had fitted her
into his theory of the perfect woman, lifting her high above himself
and above the human world. It was a continued insult for him to remain
here.

But, after careful thought, he remembered what Judith had already told
him; he was one of the men whom she could trust to do her work for her,
one of the men she most needed, a man whom she would need sorely if
Bayne Trevors were lying quiet now but to strike harder, expectedly,
later.

Judith did not dismiss him, as at first he had been sure she would. So
he stayed on, remaining away from the ranch headquarters, sleeping when
he could in the cabin above the lake, spending his days with his
horses, avoiding her but keeping her personality in his soul, her
interests in his heart. When the winter had passed, when she had made
her sales and had the money in hand for the payments upon the
mortgages, then he would go. Whereat, no doubt, the high gods smiled.

As time passed, there came about a subtle change in the attitude of the
outfit toward Pollock Hampton, whom they had been at the beginning
prone to accept as a "city guy." It began to appear that under his
lightness there was often a steady purpose; that if he didn't know
everything about a ranch, he was learning fast; that in his outspoken
admiration of things rough and manly and primal there were certain
lasting qualities. Whereas formerly his being thrown from a spirited
mount was almost a daily occurrence, now he rode rather well. With
tanned face and hard hands, he was, as Carson put it, "growing up."

He came to Judith one day serious-faced, thoughtful-eyed.

"Look here, Judith," he began abruptly, "I'm no outsider just looking
on at this game. You're the chief owner and the boss and I'm not
kicking at that any longer. Your dad raised you to this sort of thing
and you have a way of getting by with it. But, on the other hand, I'm
part owner and you've got to consider me."

Judith smiled at him.

"What now, Pollock?" she asked.

"You're the boss," he repeated stoutly. "But I've got a right to be
next in authority. Under you, you know. Why, by cripes, I go around
feeling as if I had to take orders from Carson or Tripp or any other of
the foremen!"

"'By cripes' is good!" laughed Judith. "Go ahead."

"That's all," he insisted. "You can tell them, when you get a chance,
that I am your little old right-hand man. Suppose," he suggested
vaguely, "that you