anting. But one thing I may say. Mr. Brown
has so far kept well within his legal rights, and we have no possible
ground for protest. So you see, perhaps we would better turn our
entire attention to our own affairs."

"Sure. I got plenty uh troubles uh my own," Billy agreed, more
emphatically than he intended.

Dill looked at him hesitatingly. "Mrs. Bridger," he observed slowly,
"has received news that her husband is seriously ill. There will
not be another boat going north until spring, so that it will be
impossible for her to go to him. I am extremely sorry." Then, as if
that statement seemed to him too bald, in view of the fact that they
had never discussed Mama Joy, he added, "It is very hard for Flora.
The letter held out little hope of recovery."

Billy, though he turned a deep red and acquired three distinct creases
between his eyebrows, did not even make use of his favorite expletive.
After a while he said irritably that a man was a damn fool to go off
like that and leave a wife--and family--behind him. He ought either to
stay at home or take them with him.

He did not mean that he wished her father had taken Flora to Klondyke,
though he openly implied that he wished Mama Joy had gone. He knew he
was inconsistent, but he also knew--and there was comfort as well as
discomfort in the knowledge--that Dill understood him very well.

It seemed to Billy, in the short time that the round-up crew was
camped by the creek, that no situation could be more intolerable than
the one he must endure. He could not see Flora without having Mama
Joy present also--or if he did find Flora alone, Mama Joy was sure to
appear very shortly. If he went near the house there was no escaping
her. And when he once asked Flora to ride with him he straightway
discovered that Mama Joy had developed a passion for riding and went
along. Flora had only time to murmur a rapid sentence or two while
Mama Joy was hunting her gloves.

"Mama Joy has been taking the _Ladies' Home Journal_" she said
ironically, "and she has been converted to the idea that a girl must
never be trusted alone with a man. I've acquired a chaperon now! Have
you begun to study diplomacy yet, Billy Boy?"

"Does she chapyron yuh this fervent when the Pilgrim's the man?"
countered Billy resentfully.

He did not get an answer, because Mama Joy found her gloves too soon,
but he learned his lesson and did not ask Flora to ride with him
again. Nevertheless, he tried surreptit