stirred. Ol' Jabez stood watchin' her with his eyes poppin' out.
"Turn the brute loose!" he shouts. "What for?" sez she. "'Cause I
say so!" he fairly roars.

Well, she walks up, pats the pinto on the nose, an' slips the bridle
off his head. He just stands still an' watches her as mild as a pint
o' cream.

"Rope that pony," sez Cast Steel to me.

"Get one o' your own men to rope it," sez I.

He looked into my eyes a moment an' then he called to George
Hendricks to rope the pinto; but when George hove in sight with his
rope the pinto took to his heels an' made for the horizon. "There
goes a ninety-dollar saddle," sez Jabez to me, "an' it's all your
damned nonsense."

"It ain't either," sez Barbie, as fierce as a wounded bear, "it's
all your damned nonsense. Happy has been trainin' that pony nights
for my birthday an'--"

"Barbara!" yells Jabez, "what do you mean by usin' such langwidge?
I'll line you out for this. You know mighty well--"

"Now you play accordin' to the rule," sez Barbie. "You was teachin'
me to play seven up last week an' you said that everybody had to
play by the same rule. I reckon that goes in cussin' too."

Well, they looked into each other's eyes for quite some while, an'