d dream up, and as soon as Barbie had
spoke her piece he slouched into the office purty consid'able cargoed
up with conflictin' emotions. I'd ruther shoot a man an' not kill him,
than to be the cause of makin' him look ridiculous before a woman--that
is, a revengeful sneak like what Bill Andrews was.

As soon as he an' Dick got through with their talk, an' it was a purty
tol'able lengthy confab at that, Bill Andrews went to the boss an'
tendered in his resignation. Cast Steel accepted it mighty hearty,
'cause Barbie had just been callin' on him; an' that very mornin' Dick
made Pete Hanson foreman.

Next night the office safe was opened an' fifteen hundred dollars was
took. Every one thought right away of Bill Andrews, an' the ol' man
sent us out in pairs to scour the country. The' wasn't much scourin' to
be done, how-ever, 'cause we found Bill Andrews on the next ranch, an'
they was ready to swear 'at he hadn't left it all night. The' wasn't no
one else that any one felt like suspectin'. Jabez wasn't the man to
weep over upsettin' a can o' condensed, an' purty soon the theft was
forgot an' everything was runnin' along as smooth as forty quarts o'
joint-oil.

The ol' man kept dependin' more an' more on Dick, until finally Dick
got to signin' checks, orderin' all the supplies, an' takin' full
charge; while Jabez spent most of his time taggin' around after Barbie.
They was like a couple o' young children; but Barbie wasn't quite so
high-headed with Dick after the dog affair, an' they got to ridin'
together quite a bit themselves. Barbie was just as good friends with
me as ever; but I could see--any one could see--that Jabez was willin'
to call Dick a son-in-law just the minute that Barbie was.

By the time he had been there a year Dick was the big head chief, an'
the ranch was boomin' along like a river steamboat. He allus got the
best of everything in the way of supplies, an' every laddie-buck in the
West knew of it; so 'at a Diamond Dot puncher didn't throw up his job
just for exercise. The' was a swarm o' white-faced calves, an' about
half of 'em wore other fellers' brands, which was a receipt for a lot
of fancy money, so 'at Jabez was as well satisfied as the men; an' even
Barbie had come to own up that Dick was the fittin'est man in those
parts. I could read every thought in her head, an' it hurt me to think
that at last I had dropped back to second fiddle; but I could see that
Dick had had chances that I hadn't h