she said.
"Though I'd never dare tell him so." It was the first time she had
conceded that there might be even a taint of good in him.

"Well, yes--they're some better than those I usually turn out," he
confessed. "Having a lady to feed I flaked the lard in cold instead of
just melting it and stirring her in like I most generally do. I'm
right glad that you consider them a success."

When the meal was finished she rose without a word and went into her
own quarters, convinced that this desertion would certainly call forth
a protest; but the man calmly went about the business of washing the
dishes as if he had expected nothing else, and presently she heard the
door close behind him and immediately afterwards a light appeared in
the bunk-house window.

The rattle of pots and pans roused her before daylight. Some thirty
minutes later he called to her.

"I've finished," he said. "You'd better eat yours before it gets
cold," and the closing of the door announced that he had gone without
waiting for an answer. She heard again the sound of saw and axe as he
worked up the dry logs into stove lengths. At least he was making good
his word to the cook. The sounds ceased when the sun was an hour high
and when she looked out to determine the reason she saw him working
with four colts in one of the smaller corrals.

He had fashioned a hackamore for each and they stood tied to the corral
bars. He left them there and repaired to the big gates of the main
corral. The two swinging halves sagged until their ends dragged on the
ground when opened or closed, necessitating the expenditure of
considerable energy in performing either operation. She watched him
tear down the old support wires and replace them with new ones,
stretching a double strand from the top of the tall pivot posts to the
free ends of the gates. Placing a short stick between the two strands
of heavy wire he twisted until the shortening process had cleared the
gate ends and they swung suspended, moving so freely that a rider could
lean from his saddle and throw them open with ease.

This completed to his satisfaction he fashioned heavy slabs of wood to
serve as extra brake-blocks for the chuck wagon. Between the
performance of each two self-appointed duties he spent some little time
with the colts, handling them and teaching them not to fear his
approach, cinching his saddle on first one and then the next, talking
to them and handling their heads.

For