Page:BM Bower - Her Prairie Knight.djvu/28

 know your horror of novels, mama, might suspect you of feeding your imagination upon 'penny dreadfuls.' I'm sure he is only a cowboy, and won't harm anybody."

"Cowboys are as bad as highwaymen," contended her mother, "or worse. I have read how they shoot men for a pastime, and without even the excuse of robbery."

"Is it possible?" quavered Miss Hayes faintly.

"No, it isn't!" Beatrice assured her indignantly.

"He has the look of a criminal," declared Mrs. Lansell, in the positive tone of one who speaks from intimate knowledge of the subject under discussion. "I only hope he isn't going to murder"

"They're coming back, mama," interrupted Beatrice, who had been watching closely the hilltop. "No, it's that man, and he is driving the horses."

"He's chasing them," corrected her mother testily. "A horse thief, no doubt. He's going to catch them with his snare"

"Lasso, mama."

"Well, lasso. Where can Richard be? To think the fellow should be so bold! But out here, with miles upon miles of open, and no police protection, 26