hmallows--"

"I've got a cook," put in young Tom quickly.

"And the clothes I've got would be a joke out here. And the things I
came out here to forget I shall never tell you--"

"I ain't interested enough to ask, or to listen if you told me," said
Tom.

"And myself can sing to you and dance to you, and I'm twenty years old
by the family Bible--"

"I'm twenty-two--makes it about right," said Tom.

"And if you should count fifty and ask me again--"

"Ten, twenty, thirty, forty-fifty, will you marry me?" obeyed Tom with
much alacrity.

"You might call me Belle. Belle Delavan. Well, I came to Jumpoff
because--I meant to jump. Yes, I'll marry you--and the Lord have mercy
on you, Tom Lorrigan, if I live to regret it."

"Amen. Same to you," grinned Tom. "It's an even break, anyway. They
don't claim I'm sprouting wings. They say I've got split hoofs in my
boots instead of feet, and wear my ears pointed at the top. But--but
no girl has got any loop on me. I've been straight, as far as women
goes. That's my record up to the present. If you can stand for a
little drinkin' and gamblin' and shootin'--"

Belle waved aside his self-depreciation. Young Tom was a handsome
devil, and his eyes were keen and clear and looked right into her own,
which was sufficient evidence of good faith for any woman with warm
blood in her body.

"Tom Lorrigan, I've eaten just three soda crackers, six marshmallows
and one orange since yesterday noon," said she irrelevantly. "I can't
be emotional when I'm half starved. Is there any place where I can get
a piece of bread or something?"

"My Lord! Think of me standing here and not thinkin' whether you'd had
dinner or not! Sure, you can have something to eat."

He took her by the arm, too penitent to be diffident over the
unaccustomed gallantry, and hustled her toward the section house. His
mind registered the fact that the bartender, the fireman, the brakeman
and the conductor would shortly apologize abjectly for standing
outside the saloon gawping at a lady, or they would need the immediate
ministrations of a doctor. He hoped the girl had not noticed them.

"They'll throw some grub together quick, over here," he explained to
the girl. "Everybody eats at the section house. It ain't much of a
place, but there ain't any other place. And while you're having dinner
I'll have the operator wire down to Lava for a marriage license to be
sent up on the next train. The saloon man is a justice of th