rry, he'll marry her. If I
were a girl and he wanted to marry me, and I didn't want to marry him,
I'd jump onto a horse and I'd ride and ride and ride till I got clear
out of the cattle country."

Janet stood up and drew on her gloves. "Well, I must be going. It's
nearly noon. Good-bye. Glad to have met you, I'm sure."

"Good-bye," called Alice, as the girl stepped from the door, "and when
we get settled at the Y Bar, do come over and see us--make us a nice
long visit. Please!"

"Thank you, so much! I certainly shall--come to see you at the Y Bar."

Alice Endicott smiled as she watched the girl stamp away toward the
corral.

Declining the pressing invitation of both Jennie and Cinnabar Joe to
stay for dinner, Janet mounted and rode across the creek.

"Well, I never!" exclaimed Jennie, as she watched her out of sight, "she
acted like she's mad! An' here I thought them two would hit it off fine.
Ain't that jest like women? I'm one myself, but--Gee, they're funny!"

Out on the bench Janet spurred the bay mare into a run and headed
straight for the bad lands. A jack-rabbit jumped from his bed almost
under her horse's hoofs, and a half-dozen antelope raised their heads
and gazed at her for a moment before scampering off, their white tails
looking for all the world like great bunches of down bobbing over the
prairie--but Janet saw none of these. In her mind's eye was the picture
of a slenderly built cowboy who sat his horse close beside hers, whose
gloved hand slipped from her sleeve and gripped her fingers in a strong
firm clasp. His hat rested upon the edge of a bandage that was bound
tightly about his head--a bandage bordered with tatting. His lips moved
and he was speaking to her, "For God's sake, don't hinder--help!" His
fine eyes, drawn with worry and pain, looked straight into hers--and in
their depths she read--"Oh, I'm coming--Tex!" she cried aloud, "I must
find him--I must! If he knows she's safe--maybe he will--will stop
hunting for Purdy! Oh, if anything should--happen to him--now!"

"Little fool of an Eastern girl!" she exploded, a few miles farther on.
"If she did come out here and get lost and if he did find her, and
if--she'd never make him happy, even if he did marry her! But that Mrs.
Endicott--I like her." She pulled up abruptly upon the very edge of the
bad lands and gazed out over the pink and black and purple waste. Her
brow drew into a puzzled frown. "I wonder," she whispered, "I wonder if
she