herally
buhns th' air! He acts real foolish about what he calls justice to the
ignerent an' weak, an' when hes bawss perposes to let him shaih in thu
profits an' holp do thu ole woman outen her rights, he jes' up an' bends
hes gun oveh thu dawg's haid--he's been on thu puny list eveh since!
Then he, thu white felleh, goes out, pulls up thu jumpah's stakes an'
re-locates thu mine in thu ole woman's name."

"That's a man after my own heart!" said Grace, enthusiastically. Red
seemed a little put out over her assertion but he bravely swallowed his
dose and continued.

"He's got a few hunnerd saved up and he makes it go far enough in
development work to git her a patent on it. Bein' a United States Deputy
he surveys thu claim hisself an' saves thet much. In sho't he makes her
claim good so's no one kin steal it from her, an' thet ole woman owns a
hat store, a ho-tel, a bank, an' foweh saloons in Gunnison now. She jes'
wallers in wealth!"

Again he turned to his blankets. Out in the white moonlight Douglass
stood looking over the silvered landscape, a retrospective bitterness
curling his lip.

"And the surveyor, the man who saved her mine and in reality gave her
this great wealth?" asked Grace, with a fierce wild pride burning in her
heart.

"Well," said Red, gravely, "I told yuh she was a critter bawn to
misfohtuhn. She went loco oveh thu thing, got in too much of a hurry,
an' sold out the claim, unbeknownst ter him who were managin' it fer
her, fer a measly hunnerd thousand, jes' two hours befoh he closed a
deal with a big Denveh outfit foh a quateh million. An' she got so het
up oveh her hawd luck thet she lost her memory an' couldn't remember
thet she was owin' him anything when they come ter settle up. Thet were
shore thu mos' unfawchinit thing 'at eveh happened to her. I reckon thet
she'll go to hell on account of it!"

"But why did he not bring suit for a just and proper accounting?" asked
Brevoort, impatiently. "He had a good case. The man must be a rank fool!
What has become of him?"

Red spat speculatively into the fire. "I reckon he kinda hated ter fuss
with a woman. He is a cow-punchaw now, an' all cowpunchaws is loco! Thu
las' time I see him he were glommerin' all by hes lonesome in a
moonlight jes' like this'n, an' I have an' ijea thet he were wishtful o'
kickin' somebody's pants."

The moon was high in the heavens when Douglass came back to the fire. It
had burned down to a heap of ruby coals and the