of new milk. I've
raised 'em before. We bed two on em oncet--Hank ez thet foolish about
sich critters."

"It'll make quite a peart pet," went on the garrulous old body. "An' I
s'pose ye'll be fer givin' it sum name? Ourn was Belshazzar an' Sappho.
Hank got the buck's name outen a book where it said in slick soundin'
poetry as how Belshazzar was king an' Belshazzar waz lord. Thet buck
were sure the mos' uppity critter! Nuthin' waz good enuf fer him to
sociate with and he herded by hisself mos'ly. He waz allus on thu prod,
stompin' aroun' darin' thu other critters to fite. He waz powerful
or'nary, that Belshazzar, lordin' it over everybody an' allus huntin'
trouble.

"He waz mean to thu she-goat an' treated her scan'lous! The more she
tried to be sociable an' nice the more biggoty he got. She'd go up'n
nuzzle 'im an' he'd back off an' look at her scornful and walk away high
an' mighty-like on thu tips uv he's toes, jest like he's walkin' on
aigs. He waz allus hurtin' uv her feelin's but he didn't seem to care
none. An' thu poor critter would tag after 'im an' humor 'im ontil she
made me sick! If he got outen her sight she'd blat an' take on suthin'
drefful, an' one spring when he jumped thu fence an' went out
gallivantin' with thu wild ones fer a spell, she went loco an' actooly
cried tears! That's sure right. I seed 'em.

"That was the spring that Ken Douglass hit this range. One day when she
is actin' more foolish than, most he pats her on thu back an' calls her
'Sappho' an' spouts a lot o' hifalutin dago talk an' wipes her eyes with
his new silk han'kerchief--really! Tenderfeets air cu'r'ous critters an'
Ken acts loco a leetle hisself sumtimes. He takes a heap o' int'rest in
her after that, and fetches her apples n' things every time he goes to
Tin Cup. An' one day I hears that durn fool say to Sappho as how he
wishes he was a goat so that he could teach her to fergit her sorrer.
Did ye ever hear anythin' so plumb ridic-lous! Then one day he rides up
to thu gate an' says: 'Miss Abbie'--he kin be real polite when he
wants--'there's rejoicin' in Lesbos to-day. Belshazzar has come back!'
Then he rides off laffin, an' I gits my sunbonnit and hikes down to ther
pastur'. Sure 'nough, thar's thet fool buck, an' for the fust time
_he's_ nuzzlin' her! An' thet Sappho she waz so foolish happy that I
wanted to shake her."

Grace put the kid down very gently on the floor. "I had thought of a
name for him but--"

A shadow da