there hand-ax an' carve out a little
fire-fodder." He glanced up at Alice. "An' if cookin' of any kind has
be'n inclooded in your repretwa of accomplishments, you might sizzle up
a hunk of that sow-belly, an' keep yer eye on this here pot. An' if
Winthrup should happen to recover from his locomotive attacksyou an'
hack off a limb or two, you can get a little bigger blaze a-goin' an',
just before that water starts to burn, slop in a fistful of java.
You'll find some dough-gods an' salve in one of them canvas bags, an'
when you're all set, holler. I'll throw the kaks on these cayuses, an'
Bat, he can wrastle with the pack."

Alice looked into the Texan's face with a peculiar little puckering of
the brows, and laughed: "See here, Mr. Tex," she said, "of course, I
know that java must be coffee, but if you will kindly render the rest
of your remarks a little less caliginous by calling the grub by its
Christian name, maybe I'll get along better with the breakfast."

The Texan was laughing now, a wholesome, hearty laugh in which was no
trace of cynicism, and the girl felt that for the first time she had
caught a glimpse of the real man, the boyish, whole-hearted man that
once or twice before she had suspected existed behind the mask of the
sardonic smile. From that moment she liked him and at the breezy
whimsicality of his next words she decided that it would be well worth
the effort to penetrate the mask.

"The dude, or dictionary, names for the above specified commodities is
bacon, biscuits, an' butter. An' referrin' back to your own
etymological spasm, the word 'grub' shows a decided improvement over
anything you have uttered previous. I had expected 'food' an' wouldn't
have hardly batted an' eye at 'viands,' an' the caliginous part of it
is good, only, if you aim to obfuscate my convolutions you'll have to
dig a little deeper. Entirely irrelevant to syntax an' the allied
trades, as the feller says, I'll add that them leggin's of yourn is on
the wrong legs, an' here comes Winthrup with a chip."

Turning abruptly, the man made his way toward the horses, and as
Endicott approached with an armful of firewood, the contrast between
the men was brought sharply to the girl's notice. The Texan, easy and
lithe of movement as an animal born to the wild, the very tilt of his
soft-brimmed hat and the set of his clothing bespeaking conscious
mastery of his environment--a mastery that the girl knew was not
confined to the s