very_ sorry"--this ironically--"your old man
took th' trouble to build on it. He ought t' inquired about th' claim
before he done that. But--long's it's all one with _my_ plans fer
improvin'--I don't see's I ought t' _kick_." He chuckled again, and
spat.

"I know, and so does dad," said Dallas, "that a man filed upon this
quarter-section in July. We didn't find it out, though, till long after
we built this house. We know his six months is almost up, too. But if
you're him, and even if you've got back only a few hours before it's up,
I'm willing, and I think dad'll be, for you to have the claim. But you
must pay for what we've done on it."

"_I_ never ast y' t' do anything on it."

"That's so. But the law says----"

"Aw, th' law be damned! I don't pay a cent!"

"Then I know dad won't leave."

"Oh, you _do_."

"Yes," very quietly.

"Well, let me tell y', my dear, that you're _dead_ wrong. You're goin'
t' git your duds an' grub t'gether right now; in half a' hour, you leave
this cabin."

At this, Marylyn began to sob.

"Come, get a move on," ordered Matthews, threateningly. He knew that if
he wished to regain the land, there would be no time better than the
present. He began to walk up and down, flinging his arms about to start
the circulation.

Dallas turned to comfort Marylyn, putting an arm about her protectingly.
"Hush!" she said. "Keep quiet, honey."

"Oh, let's go! let's go!" wailed the younger girl.

Matthews came forward again, and took out his watch, a large, open-faced
timepiece hung to a braided buckskin chain. "Now, look a-here," he said
peremptorily; "I don't want no more funny business. This claim's mine.
Your old man ain't got a solitary right to it. So you got t' go. I'll
give you _jus' ten minutes_." With this, he resumed his pacing,
comforting his beat with occasional draughts from a flask.

Dallas strove hard to collect herself. "I can't do anything till dad
comes," she called to him, finally. "You want us to leave. Why, we
haven't got any place to go; and it's cold----"

"Guess I know _that_," interrupted Matthews. "I'm almost friz."

"And you've got no right to ask us to go till you've paid for this house
and the well--and--and my plowing."

"I pay fer nothin' I don't see, and fer no hole in th' ground," he said.
"And as far 's a place to go is concerned"--this with a leer--"there's
Shanty Town. Why, the boys'd be tickled t' death t' see y'. Then there's
allus room at the Fort wh