A Man Four-Square

bideau Says

experience. She was a brown, slim young thing in a calico print that fitted snugly the soft lines of her immature figure. The boy watched her shyly and wondered at the quiet self-reliance of her. She was

e folks?" he a

ad sprinkled beneath her eyes a myriad of powdered freckles.

o tell your friends ab

o the house to fix up

I can

. You must have lost a

cut away. A bandage of calico had been tied around the wou

aches didn't play with me whilst y

nly one that escaped is miles away from he

ight good

was from something much more horrible than death that he had snatched her. One moment she had been a creature crushed, lead

but the feeling in her heart swept it away in an emotional rush of words from the ton

French,"

my mother. She wa

m the So

ll me that," she answe

alk when I first came out." He broached a grievance. "Say,

wh

e. "If it got out among the boys what h

an kiss

'm past eighteen if I am small for my age. Nobody

ench. That makes all the difference. When he kissed you it meant

lie Prince is to blame. Let him go an' k

near the corner of her insubordinate mouth. "We'll be go

se she was laughing at him. He knew that much, even though he lacked the experience to meet her in kind. Oddly enough, there pricked through his embar

explanation. "It's all right for yore dad to much you. I reckon a girl kinder runs to

ried man who came to the ranch wanted to make love to her before he left. "I'm glad you told me, b

is," he assured her

oy, but in one way at least he had proved himself a man. He had taken his life in his hands and ridden to save her without a second thou

hurt you much?"

a Mescalero buck, name unknown, probably now permanently retired from his business of raisin' Cain. But it mi

he agree

, what about Billie? I l

folks f

ght for the ca?on. They found Mr. Prince, but they had no time to stop then. Father is

badly

told him it was only a flesh wound, but the mu

d not strike a

seemed to

here's no d

ives on the Pecos one hundred land seventeen miles away.

t door when you run out of it onexp

des, somebody going through stops off every th

plenty of vitality, good looks and pride, but the somber shadow of her environment had not made for gayety. It was different with Pauline Roubideau. Though she had just escaped from terrible danger, laughter bubbled

ase within a stone's throw of three sprawling bodies from which she had seen the lusty life driven scarce a half-hour since. Already he divined the boyish camaraderie that was so simple and direct an expression of good-will. And yet there was something about

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