themselves as if there was nothing out of the
common happening while they were with Red, being held up by a sense
of pride, but naturally, the splendid physique of the cowman, his
picturesque attire, his abandoned way of scattering money around
and the air of a frolic he had managed to impart to a day's hard
work, all had effect on imagination, and the boys were very much
excited.

"I'd like to know how many Injuns that feller's killed!" piped up
the youngest. "My! he could grab hold of a man and wring his neck
like a chicken."

"Aw, tst!" remonstrated the blacksmith. But the elders stood by
the younker this time.

"Yes, he could, Mr. Farrel!" said they. "You ought to seen him
when he rolled up his sleeves! He's got an arm on him like the
hind leg of a horse, and he uses an ax like a tack-hammer. He got
mad once when he pounded his thumb, and busted the post square in
two with one crack."

"Well, he looks like a husky man," admitted the blacksmith. "But
why didn't you boys take the extry dollar when he made the offer?
He 'pears to know what he was about and looks kind of foolish to
say 'no' to it."

There was a moment's silence. "We wanted to show him we were just
as good as the folks he knew," explained the eldest, somewhat
shame-facedly.

The blacksmith straightened himself. "Quite right, too," said
he. "We _air_, when you come to that." A little pride is a
wonderful tonic. Each unit of that gathering felt himself the
better for the display of it.

* * * * *

In the meantime, Red was repairing the ravages of the day opposite
Miss Mattie at a supper table which was bountifully spread. Miss
Mattie put two and two together, and found they meant a larger sum
of eatables than she had hitherto felt sufficient, and with a
little pang at the thought of the inadequacy of her first offering
to her cousin, provided such fatness as the land of Fairfield
boasted.

They discussed the events of the day with satisfaction.

"My!" said Miss Mattie. "You do things wholesale while you are
about it, Will, don't you?"

Red smiled in pleased acknowledgment. "I'm no peanut stand, old
lady," said he. "I like to see things move."

Then Miss Mattie broached the question she had been hovering around
ever since her guests had taken their leave.

"Do you think you'll really go into business with that young man
who was here to dinner?" she asked.

"Why, I think it's kinder likely," said