"If he'd worked her over with a quirt about onct a month, instead of wonderin' what he could do for her next, he might have had her yet.
"If he made a door-mat out of hisself before, it was worse after you come. He was the greatest hand for little things that ever I see--colts, kittens, calves, puppies and a baby! He walked the floor carrying you on a pillow for fear you'd break.
"It was too slow for Isabelle--that life--and only one man to fetch and carry for her. We used to make bets among ourselves as to how long 'twould last, and the short-time man won out. She liked 'em 'tough,' she said--no white-collared gents for her; and she got what she was lookin' for when she throwed in with Freighter Sam that hauled supplies from the railroad to the ranch.
"They skipped out between daylight and dark and made as clean a getaway as ever was pulled off. But where she made her big mistake was takin' you along. If it hadn't been for that, he wouldn't a-walked a half mile to bring her back. Twenty-four hours put ten years on him, and he never squeaked. But if he'd caught that freighter he'd took him by the heels and swung him like you'd knock a rabbit's brains out agin a post.
"He went over the country with a fine-tooth comb, hopin' to git you back. A couple of times he almost closed in on 'em, but they managed to give him the slip and headed north while mostly he hunted south and west.
"You was well growed before I run into 'em. Freighter Sam used to bang her head agin the door jamb about twict a week, and they got along good until he fell for a hasher in an eatin' house and quit Isabelle cold. She hit bottom pretty pronto after that." Mullendore stopped.
"But my father, Pete;--tell me more about him!"
He eyed her with a quizzical and appraising look before he replied: "You favor the Old Man as much as if you was made out of the mud that was left when they was done workin' on him. Your eyes, your mouth, your chin--the way you walk and stand--the easy style you set a horse. As the sayin' is, 'You're the spit out of his mouth.' God A'mighty! Wouldn't he spile you if you was with him!"
"But you don't tell me where he is, Pete!"
He ignored the interruption and said with slow malice, watching her face: "I've often thought what a shame it was that you two never got together--a hankerin' for each other so."