long in silence a little way, but that was a state that Taterleg
could not long endure.

"Well, I'll soon be in the oyster parlor up to the bellyband," he said,
full of the cheer of his prospect. "Nettie's got the place picked out
and nailed down--I sent her the money to pay the rent. I'll be handin'
out stews with a slice of pickle on the side of the dish before another
week goes by, Duke."

"What are you goin' to make oysters out of in Wyoming?" the Duke
inquired wonderingly.

"Make 'em out of? Oysters, of course. What do you reckon?"

"There never was an oyster within a thousand miles of Wyoming, Taterleg.
They wouldn't keep to ship that far, much less till you'd used 'em up."

"Cove oysters, Duke, cove oysters," corrected Taterleg gently. "You
couldn't hire a cowman to eat any other kind, you couldn't put one of
them slick fresh fellers down him with a pair of tongs."

"Well, I guess you know, old feller."

Taterleg fell into a reverie, from which he started presently with a
vehement exclamation of profanity.

"If she's got bangs, I'll make her cut 'em off!" he said.

"Who cut 'em off?" Lambert asked, viewing this outburst of feeling in
surprise.

"Nettie! I don't want no bangs around me to remind me of that
snipe-legged Alta Wood. Bangs may be all right for fellers with music
boxes in their watches, but they don't go with me no more."

"I didn't see Jedlick around the ranch up there; what do you suppose
become of him?"

"Well, from what the boys told me, if he's still a-goin' like he was
when they seen him last, he must be up around Medicine Hat by now."

"It was a sin the way you threw a scare into that man, Taterleg."

"I'm sorry I didn't lay him out on a board, dern him!"

"Yes, but you might as well let him have Alta."

"He can come back and take her any time he wants her, Duke."

The Duke seemed to reflect this simple exposition of Jedlick's present
case.

"Yes, I guess that's so," he said.

For a mile or more there was no sound but the even swing of their
horses' hoofs as they beat in the long, easy gallop which they could
hold for a day without a break. Then Lambert:

"Plannin' to leave tonight, are you Taterleg?"

"All set for leavin', Duke."

On again, the frost-powdered grass brittle under the horses' feet.

"I think I'll pull out tonight, too."

"Why, I thought you was goin' to stay till Vesta left, Duke?"

"Changed my mind."

"Don't you reckon Vesta she'll be a little pu