at her horse close beside the Texan. "You
gon' mar' heem tomor'?"

Janet, blushing furiously, laughed an affirmative.

Bat nodded: "Dat good. You git de bes' dam' man on de worl'! Dat Tex
mebbe-so she git to be de gov'--de w'at you call, de _president_! But,
som'tam' he lak de bad boy an' you got to knock hell out of heem to mak'
heem good. Ol' Bat--he know. For er long tam' A'm know heem. You lov'
heem lak hell. Een de eye A'm see it--an' een de eye A'm see you gon'
to mak heem stay good----"

"Hey, you old leather image!" laughed the Texan, "what are you tryin' to
do--scare me out?"

"Ba Goss! A'm lak A'm see you scare wan tam'! You bet A'm ride wan
hondre mile to laff on you. You git de dam' fine 'oman. Now you got to
mak' her, w'at you call, de happiness. Bye-m-bye, Ol' Bat, she git to
ol' to ride de range--to cook. Den A'm joos' stay 'roun' an' look
aftaire _les enfants_. A'm show um how to ride, an' shoot, an' t'row de
rope--joos' so good lak de _pere_ kin do, _ah voila_!"

Janet fled precipitously for the cabin, and as Bat mounted Cinnabar's
horse and headed out onto the trail, the Texan turned to Grimshaw: "Slip
over to McWhorter's tomorrow, Cass," he invited--"I'd like to have you
there."

Grimshaw hesitated just a moment: "You're sure you want me? You ain't
askin' me just so I won't feel--left out? An' how about the others? How
about yer--wife? She never has had no time for us horse-thieves."

The Texan smiled: "She's learnt a lot in the last couple of hours, Cass.
If you ain't at the weddin' she'll be the most disappointed one of all."

"All right, boy--I'll come. I got to be goin' now." He ran his fingers
over his stubby beard, "Sure is goin' to be hell to shave."

As the Texan swung from his horse, a feminine shriek of joy directed his
attention toward the cabin, where in the doorway Alice and Janet stood
locked in each other's embrace--laughing, crying, talking all at once,
while Endicott smilingly beckoned to Tex.

"Oh, you darling!" Alice was saying, "I'm so glad! I picked you for him
the moment I laid eyes on you--and then I nearly spoiled it all by my
eulogy."

"But--" stammered Janet, "what about the other girl--the one from the
East--that you were going to invite out? You said she was
beautiful--and--and adorable and--you were just going to _make_ her
marry him!"

"From the East!" Alice exclaimed, "I'm sure I didn't say anything about
the East. I said there was a girl friend of mine--a