"What does a woman always want?" she asked sweetly, and then answered her own question. "Clothes--and money to buy them--lots of it. I'm going to town to-morrow, you know."
"H'm!" His grunt was half a chuckle, half a growl. "Do you call yoreself a woman--a little bit of a trick like you? Why, I could break you in two."
She drew herself up very straight. "I'll be seventeen, coming grass. And it's much more likely, sir, that I'll break you--as you'll find out when the bills come in after I've been to town."
With that she swung on her heel and vanished inside the house.
The proud, fond eyes of the cattleman followed her. It was an easy guess that she was the apple of his eye.
But when he turned to business again his manner was gruffer than usual. He was a trifle crisper to balance the effect of his new foreman having discovered that he was as putty in the hands of this slip of a girl.
"Well, you know where you're at, Roberts. Deliver that herd without any loss for strays, fat, an' in good condition, an' you won't need to go back to line-ridin'. Fall down on the job, an' you'll never get another chance to drive A T O cows."
"That's all I ask, Mr. Wadley," the cowboy answered. "An' much obliged for the chance."
"Don't thank me. Thank York's busted laig," snapped his chief. "We'll make the gather for the drive to-morrow an' Friday."