nded Jerkline Jo.

Hiram Hooker nodded.

As the leaders neared the corner Hiram cried: "Haw, Jane! Haw, Buck!"
and tugged once on his jerkline. Obeying the command, the leaders,
followed by the eight, brought the wagon close to the left-hand side of
the street. Two quick jerks on the line, and the sharp cries, "Gee,
Buck! Gee, Jane!" turned the well-trained leaders to the right and
headed them toward the entrance to the cross street. "Haw, Steve!
Haw, Molly! Over the chain, Molly! Haw, boys, haw!"

At Hiram's command, the off pointer, Molly, had stepped daintily over
the heavy chain that ran between her and her mate, and now both of them
were pulling the heavy tongue at right angles to the left, the wheelers
helping. As neatly as most men might have made the corner with a
single buggy, the string of ten and the heavy wagon swung into the
intersecting street, as narrow as the other, and not a hub touched.

Jerkline Jo's dark eyes were sparkling. "You've got a job, Hiram," she
said. "A jerkline driver who can make that corner without scraping a
hub is a real jerkline driver."

"Thank you," replied Hiram, with a merry grin, thrilling at her use of
his given name. "And I'll say that the man that trained this team was
a jerkline driver, too."

"A man didn't train them," Jerkline Jo informed him proudly. "I
trained them."

"Just the same," returned Hiram, "I stick by what I said."

"Now you take the line, Mr. Tweet," instructed Jerkline Jo.

"I don't care for it," said Tweet. "I'm a promoter and capitalist.
I'll go to work and get a job here in this burg, Miss Jo, and pay you
for my transportation down when I've earned the price. But I have a
sneaking feeling that Molly wouldn't care for the cadence of my voice;
and Pete he eyed me kinda suspiciously when Hiram led 'im out.
No--there's a limit. I've reached it."

"Drive back to the stable, Hiram," Jo ordered. "We'll start for Julia
at once."

She turned to Tweet. "I'm sorry," she said. "Why did you ship down
here as a jerkline skinner, Mr. Tweet? You came over a rival railroad,
of course, and your transportation will cost me full fare."

"Madam," he replied guiltily, "I was broke, and just had to get outa
Frisco. And I couldn't leave Hiram. Why, that boy would 'a' been a
suicide, if it hadn't been for me. He was in love, and wouldn't work,
and in another day he'd been broke--a hick from Wild-cat Hill alone and
friendless and in love in big