et, self-confident smile, the smile which had
come down to her from Y.D. and from the Wilsons--the only family that
had ever mastered him. The idea of either Transley or Linder thinking he
could gallop home with HER! For the moment she forgot to do Linder the
justice of remembering that nothing was further from his thoughts. She
would show them. She would make a race of it--ALMOST to the wire. In the
home stretch she would make the leap, out and over the fence. She was in
it for the race, not for the finish.

Zen contemplated for some minutes the possibilities of that race; then,
as the imagination threatened to become involved, she sprang from her
cot and thrust a cautious head through the door of her tent. The gang
had long since gone to the fields, and friendly bushes sheltered her
from view from the cook-car. She drew on her boots, shook out her hair,
threw a towel across her shoulders, and, soap in hand, walked boldly the
few steps to the stream rippling over its shiny gravel bed. She stopped
and tested the water with her fingers; then brought it in fresh, cool
handfuls about her face and neck.

"Mornin', Zen!" said a familiar voice. "'Scuse me for happenin' to be
here. I was jus' waterin' that Pete-horse after a hard ride."

"Now look here, Mr. Drazk!" said the girl, whipping her scanty clothing
about her, "if I had a gun that Pete-horse would be scheduled for his
fastest travel in the next twenty seconds, and he'd end it without a
rider, too. I won't have you spying about!"

"Aw, don' be cross," Drazk protested. He was sitting on his horse in
the ford a dozen yards away. "I jus' happened along. I guess the outside
belongs to all of us. Say, Zen, if I was to get properly interduced,
what's the chances?"

"Not one in a million, and if that isn't odds enough I'll double it."

"You're not goin' to hitch up with Linder, are you?"

"Linder? Who said anything about Linder?"

"Gee, but ain't she innercent?" Drazk stepped his horse up a few feet to
facilitate conversation. "I alus take an interest in innercent gals away
from home, so I kinda kep' my angel eye on you las' night. An' I see
Linder stalkin' aroun' here an' sighin' out over the water when he
should 'ave been in bed. But, of course, he's been interduced."

"George Drazk, if you speak to me again I'll horse-whip you out of the
camp at noon before all the men. Now, beat it!"

"Jus' as you say, Ma'am," he returned, with mock courtesy. "But I could
tell