She's a queer one. Darned if she don't make a person think
sometimes--listening to her chatter--that there must be something
kind of decent about human nature after all!

III

RED GAP AND THE BIG-LEAGUE STUFF

I waited beside Ma Pettengill at the open door of the Arrowhead ranch
house. It was a moment of tranquil expectancy; presently we would be
summoned to the evening meal. Down by the barn a tired janizary pumped
water into a trough for two tired mules still in harness. Halfway down
the lane, before a mirror tacked to the wall beside the bunk-house door,
two men hurriedly combed their damp hair. Blackbirds were still noisy in
the poplars. In the field at our left a lazy lot of white-faced cattle,
large and placid, lolled or grazed on the new spring grass.

Surveying these cattle with a fond eye--had she not that day refused all
of three hundred and twenty-five dollars a head for a score of these
pure-bred cows?--my hostess read me a brief lecture on the superior
fleshing disposition of the Hereford. No better rustler under range
conditions, said she, accumulating flesh at all ages, storing it in
seasons of plenty to draw on in seasons of want. Hadn't I noticed how
common cows got paunchy and how well the fat was distributed on the
pure-breds?

I had not noticed, cows being more or less cows to me, but I was prepared
to look with deep respect upon any cow for which three hundred and
twenty-five dollars could be sanely refused, and I now did so. I was
told that I forgot their calves, which would be worth a hundred and sixty
dollars the day they were weaned. This made it all more impressive. I
looked respectfully again at the bulky creatures, though listening, too,
for the stealthy-stepping Lew Wee; a day in the thin spring air along a
rocky trout stream had made even cattle on the hoof suggestive.

Ma Pettengill, with a last proud look at her jewels, swept the panoramic
camera of her eye round to the blacksmith shop on our right. Before it
were strewn the mutilated remains of four wood wagons. I had lately heard
the lady have words with Abner, the blacksmith, concerning repairs to
these. Abner himself had few of the words. They were almost entirely his
employer's. They were acutely to the effect that these here wagons would
be running again before the week was out or she would know the reason
why. The aggrieved Abner had tried to suggest that this reason she would
know would not be the right reason at a