they had control of the hosses all right. Both of 'em
was girls, an' one of 'em was Jessamie. When I see who the other was, I
felt as though I was standin' on the outer edge of a fleecy cloud. It
was Barbie. I ducked back around the corner of the house.

Bill, he ran down an' helped his lady to alight, while Barbie flopped
herself off her mount an' ran up to Cupid. Oh, they know a heap, dogs
do. Cupid took just one look in her eyes, an' when she squatted down on
her knees, he tried to get into her lap an' they made a heap o' fuss
over each other. I could tell by her eyes that Jessamie felt a shade
jealous, 'cause Cupid hadn't quite forgiven her for slightin' him at
the first. I was watchin' 'em through a chink in the shack and I was
feelin' purty glum myself, to think that Barbie would spend all that
time on a dog an' never give one little inquiry about me.

Well, they examined the spot where Cupid had made his tackle, an' the
dent in the earth where the hoss an' Jessamie had lit, an' then they
meandered up to the house to see just how helpless we'd been, aside
from Cupid.

"Well, you all had a share in it;" Barbie was sayin' as they neared the
shack. "Cupid did the actual work, you trained him for it, and Higinson
had the kind of a nerve that don't melt under fire."

"Sure thing," sez Bill, "I own up that I was plumb petrified, an' Cupid
wasn't carin' much one way or the other; but Hank Higinson never lost
his self-possession a second,"--this was all bosh, 'cause I was purty
nigh stampeded, an' that's the simple truth.

"Where is he?" sez Barbie. "I want to see him an' then I can tell just
about how much he could do on his own hook."

I was feelin' a sight better. I saw exactly how it was. Bill an' all
the rest o' the fellers had done exactly what I had hinted at an'
hadn't divulged my identity, an' Barbie hadn't the slightest idea that
I was in the state. Those people who know precisely the right time to
disobey orders, are a big help to humanity; but they're mighty scarce.

Bill, he opened the door of the shack, an' sez, "Come on out. Hank, a
lady wants to be introduced to you."

I stepped to the door feelin' wonderful bashful, but when Barbie saw
me, she went several different colors an' shouts:

"Happy, Happy Hawkins! What on earth do you mean by bein' here?"

Her voice was trembly an' accusin' an' reproachful an' glad an' a lot
of other things; an' I found it mighty hard to come back with a joke,
quick