t private--"

"I think there is nothing--" she began.

"Well," he said, "I've got to leave here."

Ruth's face grew long. Uncle Jepson gagged on a mouthful of smoke. Aunt
Martha ceased knitting. Masten alone seemed unmoved, but an elated gleam
was in his eyes.

"Isn't that a rather sudden decision, Mr. Vickers?" questioned Ruth after
a silence.

"Well, mebbe it is, to you," said Vickers, with some embarrassment. "But
the fact is, I've been thinkin' of goin' for a long time--about a year to
be exact. I was goin' before your uncle died, but I kept holdin' on
because he wanted me to. You see, ma'am, I've got a mother back East.
She's been poorly for quite a while now, an' has been wantin' me to come.
I've been puttin' it off, but it's got to the point where it can't be put
off any longer. I got a letter from her doctor the other day, an' he says
that she can't last a heap longer. So--I'm goin'."

"That's too bad," sympathized Ruth. "You ought to go, and go quickly."

"I'm aimin' to, ma'am. But I've got to tell you somethin' before I go. Me
an' your uncle was pretty thick; he trusted me a heap."

"Yes," said Ruth; "he told me that he liked and trusted you."

"Well, you'll understand then. A couple of months before he cashed in, we
was talkin' of him goin'. He knowed it, ma'am. We was talkin' about the
ranch. He knowed I wanted to leave. 'What'll I do for a range boss when
you're gone?' he asked me. 'I won't go till you ain't here any more,' I
tells him. An' he grinned. 'I'm goin' to leave the Flyin' W to my niece,
Ruth Harkness of Poughkeepsie,' he says. 'I'd like her to stay an' run
it--if she likes it here. You'll be gone then, an' who in Sam Hill will
be range boss then?' I told him I didn't have no thoughts on the subject,
an' he continues: 'Rex Randerson, Vickers--he'll be range boss. Do you
understand? If you was to pull your freight right now, Rex Randerson
would be range boss as soon as I could get word over to him. An' if
you've got any say-so after I'm gone, an' Ruth wants to keep the ranch,
you tell her that--that Bill Harkness wants Rex Randerson to be range
boss after Wes Vickers don't want it any more.' That's what he said,
ma'am; them's his very words."

Ruth looked at Masten. He was staring stonily out into the plains. Ruth's
cheeks reddened, for she felt that she knew his thoughts. But still,
Randerson hadn't really used him ill at the river, and besides, he had
apologized, and it seemed to her t