as cattle country, and well loved.
Frosty's daughter--she was only sixteen when he was last at Blowout,
more than a year ago--was a pretty little thing, and her father had
trained her to be a graceful tight-rope performer. He himself did some
shooting from horseback, which most of the cowboys who applauded it
could have beaten.

Frosty La Rue drank hard, and he was very surly when he was drinking.
Even Aunt Huldah's boundless charity found it difficult to speak well of
his treatment of Minnie. The Signorina could take care of herself--and
of the Aerial Wonder as well. But the heft of her father's temper, and
sometimes the weight of his hand also, fell on the young girl when
things went amiss.

And things had gone amiss, more particularly in regard to her, during
the last six months. Up to that time she had looked like a child, small
for her age, silent, with big, wistful eyes, deft, clever fingers, and a
voice and manner that charmed every audience--in short, the most
valuable piece of property in La Rue's outfit.

The girl had bloomed into sudden and lovely girlhood when Kid Barringer
saw her at Abilene, in April, patiently performing the tricks that had
been taught her, obediently risking her young life that there might be
plenty of money for her father to lose at the monte table, and that they
might all be clothed and fed.

Kid had known the La Rue family and the girl for years, and when he
promptly lost his heart to this surprising development of its daughter,
he went frankly to the head of the clan and asked for her like a man.

There was no fault to find with Kid Barringer. He was good-looking,
more intelligent than most of his mates, an honest, industrious and
kind-hearted fellow, of whom his employers spoke well. If the girl cared
for him--and Kid asserted that he had asked her and found out that she
did care--she could not hope to do better.

But, of course, for La Rue to give up this most valuable chattel was out
of the question. What he did, therefore, was to fly into a rage, refuse
the Kid's offer in language which would have precipitated a brawl had
the young man been less earnest in his wooing, and consign Minnie to the
watchful vigilance of her stepmother.

And the cowboy had been vainly following the show during the whole two
months that had passed since this episode, anxiously watching his poor
little hard-worked sweetheart, hoping to get a word from her, meaning in
any case to reassure her, and