e of the Lorrigan wagon hauling the piano away, the click of
the horses' feet as the Devil's Tooth riders convoyed the instrument,
made her wince, and want to put her palms over her ears to shut out
the sound of it.

But she was Scotch, and a Douglas. There was no weak fiber that would
let her slump before this emergency. She went back to the little
platform, stood beside the desk that held the globe and the
dictionary and a can of flowers, and rapped loudly with the ruler from
the Pocatello hardware store. By degrees the room ceased buzzing with
excited talk, the shuffling feet stood still.

"I am very sorry," said Mary Hope clearly, "that your pleasure
has--has been interrupted. It seems there has been a misunderstanding
about the piano. I thought that I could buy it for the school, and for
that reason I gave this dance. But it seems--that--I'm terribly sorry
the dance has been spoiled for you, and if the gentlemen who bought
tickets will please step this way, I will return your money."

She had to clench her teeth to keep her lips from trembling. Her hands
shook so that she could scarcely open her handbag. But her purpose
never faltered, her eyes were blue and sparkling when she looked out
over the crowd. She waited. Feet scuffled the bare floor, voices
whispered, but no man came toward her.

"I want to return your money," she said sharply, "because without the
piano I suppose you will not want to dance, and--"

"Aw, the dickens!" cried a big, good-natured cowpuncher with a
sun-peeled nose and twinkly gray eyes. "I guess we all have danced
plenty without no piano music. There's mouth harps in this crowd, and
there's a fiddle. Git yore pardners for a square dance!" And under his
breath, to his immediate masculine neighbors he added: "To hell with
the Lorrigans and their piano!"

Mary Hope could have hugged that cowpuncher who hastily seized her
hand and swung her into place as the first couple in the first set.

When the three sets were formed he called the dance figures in a
sonorous tone that swept out through the open windows and reached the
ears of the Lorrigans as they rode away.

"_Honor_ yore pardner--and the lady on your _left!_
_Join_ eight hands, an' a-circle to the _left!_
Break an _Indian_ trail home in the Indian _style_, with the
lady in the _lead!_
Swing the lady _behind_ you once in a while!--
The lady _beh