when I said
the word. I knew I could beat her this time, but I was feared she might
call for a repeat the next day--an' I intended to remind Jabez it was
the Sabbath.

Starlight was pretty wet with sweat, while the pinto was bone dry when
we struck Trouble Creek which was boilin' full. In we went, an' the
water hissed and sucked around our waists; but we crossed at about the
same time, an' then it was only ten miles to the ranch house an' Barbie
shook her quirt. Away shot the pinto, but Starlight had his fussy
streak warm by this time, an' I let him edge ahead as fast as he wanted
to. He knew the distance now, an' he knew I wanted to cover it in the
least possible time, an' he knew just how much the' was left in him, so
I drew a tight rein, eased it off again, an' we dropped a gap between
us an' the shorter legs of Barbie's mount. We only gained an inch at a
time an' I wasn't sure I'd be the one to do the braggin' even yet, when
all of a sudden we swept around a point of rock an' there was Melisse
hot-footin' it to the ranch house. She heard us the minute we saw her,
an' when we drew up to her she gasped: "Pluto has about killed ol' Cast
Steel, an' Spider Kelley has gone for the doctor."

Barbie caught the words, but she never made a reply or asked a single
question; she just laid the quirt without a sting over Hawkins's
foreshoulder an' raced on. I stopped long enough to tell Melisse that I
would send the buckboard after her, an' then I took after Barbie. It
looked like a race, sure enough. I was worried. Pluto was a high grade
stallion Jabez had got after I lined up Starlight alongside the range
ponies, an' he had the meanest temper I ever see put into a hoss. I had
been tendin' him 'cause I'd got wise to the ways o' these thin-skinned
fellers down at the Lion Head, but I never quite trusted him, an' I
feared 'at maybe Barbie's goin' off without notice had riled the old
man an' he had tried to take it out on Pluto.

We only had five miles to go, an' we sure went it. I beat her to the
ranch house, but Starlight hadn't got his breath back when she rode in,
an' the pinto only took one long breath an' shook his head. I turned
the hosses over to one o' the boys 'at were hangin' around the door
lookin' troubled, an' hustled inside. Jabez lay on the lounge with a
face like soured vinegar. He had a bandage round his head an' another
around his arm, while his leg was propped up on pillows.

"What's the damage, Jabez?" I a