. There's not a youngster in this settlement who's not up
to his neck in love with you already. And there's not one of them who does
not realize that you would be the poorest mate he could pick so long as he
must live on the border."

"I'm glad to hear just what you believe about me," she muttered. "But
you're bewildering. It seems I'm a rare prize for any man and a most
uncomfortable burden."

"Oh, dash it all, Patsy! You understand that what I've said applies to
Howard's Creek. If we were standing two hundred miles due east I should
say directly the opposite."

Of course she understood my true meaning, and of course in her heart she
agreed with it. She was town-bred and therefore was intended for the town.
Yet so strangely stubborn and eccentric is a woman's reasoning that she
can feel resentment toward a man because he has brains enough to
comprehend the same simple truth that she comprehends.

Had there been no danger from the Indians I could have scored a bull's-eye
with her by baldly declaring her to be the most valuable asset the
frontier ever had received; and she would have dimpled and smiled and but
faintly demurred, knowing I was a rock-ribbed liar for asserting it, and
yet liking me the more for the ridiculous exaggeration. That is one reason
why it is more sensible and much more satisfactory to quarrel with a man
than a woman.

With the tenacity which her sex displays when believing a male is trying
to avoid some issue, she coldly reminded:

"Talk, talk, but not a word yet as to what my father did two nights ago."

"It was one of the most splendid exhibitions of faith and moral courage I
ever witnessed."

Her gaze grew kindly again and she halted and stared up into my eyes,
flushed with pleasure, and waited to hear more encomiums.

"I never before saw one man rush out and confront a war-party. Then his
going out alone last night and prowling about through the dark forest!
That was magnificent. Your father is one of the bravest men I ever saw."

She rubbed a pink finger against her nose and tilted her head and weighed
my words thoughtfully. Obviously I had omitted something; for with a
little frown worrying her fair forehead she began:

"But--but there's something else you haven't said. What about his
influence over the Indians? You thought him foolish to take me over the
mountains. You now admit you were foolish to think that?"

She was waiting for me to complete my confessional. If the element