only surprise I got
when I heard he'd killed Purdy was that he _could_ do it--not that he
_would_. Then later, under certain circumstances that come to pass in
a coulee where there was cottonwoods, him an' I got better acquainted
yet. An' then in the matter of the reservoir--but you know more about
that than I do. You see what I'm gettin' at is this: Win can saddle
his own horse, now, an' he climbs onto him from the left side. The
next time he tackles it he'll shave, an' the next time he muds up a
catch-basin he'll mud it right. Day before yesterday he was about as
useless a lookin' piece of bric-a-brac as ever draw'd breath--an' look
at him now! There ain't been any real change. The man was there all
the time, only he was so well disguised that no one ever know'd
it--himself least of all. Yesterday I saw him take a chew off Bat's
plug--an' Bat don't offer his plug promiscuous. He'll go back East,
an' the refinement will cover him up again--an' that's a damned shame.
But he won't be just the same. It won't crust over no more, because
the prejudice is gone. He's chewed the meat of the cow country--an'
he's found it good."

Later, long after the others had gone to sleep, Alice lay between her
blankets in the little shelter tent, thinking.

CHAPTER XV

THE TEXAN HEARS SOME NEWS

Bat had pitched the tent upon a little knoll, screened by a jutting
shoulder of rock from the sleeping place of the others. When Alice
awoke it was broad daylight. She lay for a few moments enjoying the
delicious luxury of her blankets which the half-breed had spread upon a
foot-thick layer of boughs. The sun beat down upon the white canvas
and she realized that it was hot in the tent. The others must have
been up for hours and she resented their not having awakened her. She
listened for sounds, but outside all was silence and she dressed
hurriedly. Stepping from the tent, she saw the dead ashes of the
little fire and the contents of the packs apparently undisturbed,
covered with the tarp. She glanced at her watch. It was half past
nine. Suddenly she remembered that dawn had already began to grey the
east when they retired. She was the first one up! She would let the
others sleep. They needed it. She remembered the Texan had not slept
the day before, but had ridden away to return later with the clothing
for Endicott--and the whiskey.

"I don't see why he has to drink!" she muttered, and making her way to
the spr