as hot as the hubs
uh he--as blue blazes when I came by. There weren't any windows up,
even--I hope you was real comfortable."

"Perfectly," she assured him.

"I'll gamble yuh were! Well, and where were yuh cached last Sunday?"

"Nowhere. I went with Bert and Miss Forsyth up in the mountains. We
took our lunch and had a perfectly lovely time."

"I'm glad somebody had a good time. I got away at nine o'clock and
came over to Meeker's--and you weren't there; so I rode the rim-rocks
till sundown, trying to locate yuh. It's easier hunting strays in the
Bad Lands."

Miss Satterly seemed about to speak, but she changed her mind and gazed
at the coulee-rim.

"It's hard to get away, these days," Weary went on explaining. "I
wanted to come before the dance, but we were gathering some stuff out
the other way, and I couldn't. The Old Man is shipping, yuh see; we're
holding a bunch right now, waiting for cars. I got Happy Jack to stand
herd in my place, is how I got here."

The schoolma'am yawned apologetically into her palm. Evidently she was
not greatly interested in the comings and goings of Weary Davidson.

"How did yuh like the dance?" he asked, coming to the subject that he
knew was the vital point.

"Lovely," said the schoolma'am briefly, but with fervor.

"Different here," asserted Weary. "I drifted, right before supper."

"_Did_ you?" Miss Satterly accented the first word in a way she taught
her pupils indicated surprise. "I don't reckon you noticed it. You
were pretty busy, about then."

Miss Satterly laughed languid assent.

"I never knew before that Bert Rogers was any relation of Myrt
Forsyth," observed Weary, edging still nearer the vital point. "They
sure aren't much alike."

"You used to know her?" asked Miss Satterly, politely.

"Well, I should say yes. I used to go to school with Myrt. How do you
like her?"

"Lovely," said Miss Satterly, this time without fervor.

Weary began digging a trench with his spurs. He wished the schoolma'am
would not limit herself so rigidly to that one adjective. It became
unmeaning with much use, so that it left a fellow completely in the
dark.

"Just about everybody says that about her--at first," he remarked.

"Did you?" she asked him, still politely.

"I did a heap worse than that," said Weary, grimly determined. "I had
a bad case of calf-love and made a fool uh myself generally."

"What fun!" chirped the schoolma'am with an unconvincin