re a
torment, and you ain't no gratitude. Whur'd you been at if I hadn't
heard you blattin' and went after you? A coyote would a ketched you
before sundown. And ain't I been a mother to you, giving up all my
air-tight milk to feed you? Warmin' it fer you and packin' you 'round
like you was a million-dollar baby so the bobcats won't git you--kin you
deny it? An' this is my thanks fer it--wake me up walkin' on me, to say
nothin' of mornin's when you start jumpin' on my tepee, makin' a
toboggan slide out'n it before any other sheep is stirrin'. Ain't you no
conscience a-tall, Mary?"

"Ma-a-a-aa!"

The quavering plaintiff bleat evoked a look of admiration.

"Oh, you have--have you? I more'n half believe you know what I'm
sayin'. You're some sheep, Mary, an' if you jest stick 'round with me
till you're growed I'll make a man of you. How'd you like a cigarette?"

"Ma-a-aa-aa!"

Bowers chuckled.

"Wait till I have my smoke an' then you kin have yourn, young feller."

He rolled and smoked half a cigarette while the lamb stood looking up
into his face wistfully.

"I'll jest knock the fire out fer you first, then you kin have your
whack out of it."

He shook the tobacco from the paper into his hand and the lamb ate it to
the last fleck with gusto.

Bowers cried gleefully:

"You're a reg'lar roughneck, Mary! Doggone you! As you might say--you
ain't no lady!"

The herder laughed aloud at his witticism and might have rambled on for
some time longer if the crashing of brush had not attracted his
attention. A man on horseback was picking his way through the quaking
asp and Bowers awaited his approach with keen interest.

"How are you?" the stranger nodded.

"Won't you git off?"

Bowers strained his eyes to read the brand on the shoulder of the horse
the man turned loose, but it told him nothing. While the stranger
squatted on his heel, Bowers rubbed Mary's horns during an interval of
unembarrassed silence.

"Bum?" inquired the stranger, eying Mary with a look which could not be
called admiring.

"Yep." The garrulous Bowers had become suddenly reticent. The notion was
growing that he did not like his visitor. He asked finally:

"Et yet?"

"Not sence daylight. I seen your tepee up toward the top and thought
maybe I could locate your wagon and git dinner."

"I'll feed anybody that's hungry," Bowers replied ambiguously.

The stranger asked innocently:

"Who does this Outfit belong to?"

"Miss Kate Prentice