"but when a fellow spends the morning chatting with old Y.D.'s daughter
I guess he's allowed to forget a few things."

"Oh!"

"Reckon you don't believe it, eh, Lin? Reckon you don't believe I stood
an' talked with her over the fence for so long I just had to pull myself
away?"

"You reckon right."

George was thinking fast. Here was an opportunity to present the
incident in a light which had not before occurred to him.

"Guess you wouldn't believe she told me her secret--told me somethin'
she had never told anybody else, an' made me swear not to mention. Guess
you don't believe that, neither?"

"You guess right again." Linder was quite unperturbed. He knew something
of Drazk's gift for romancing.

Drazk leaned over in the saddle until he could reach Linder's ear with a
loud whisper. "And she called me 'dear'; 'George dear,' she said, when I
came away."

"The hell she did!" said Linder, at last prodded into interest. He
considered the "George dear" idea a daring flight, even for Drazk.
"Better not let old Y.D. hear you spinning anything like that, George,
or he'll be likely to spoil your youthful beauty."