Page:Honore Willsie--Judith of the godless valley.djvu/89

 her broad straw hat back from her face and half turned to look at Douglas.

"Have you seen that new litter of pups of Sister's?" she asked Douglas.

He shook his head and Judith went on. "Peter says I can have the pick of the lot, but there's only one I'd look at. He's the image of Sister. I'm going to train him so's I can take him out to run wild horses with me when he grows up."

"Wild horses! The last time it was bronco busting you were going into. What's it all about, anyhow, Jude?"

"You don't suppose I'm going to spend my life in Lost Chief, do you?" demanded Judith.

Douglas swept the landscape with a lazy glance. "I don't see how you could beat it."

"O, for looks and stunts, yes!" Judith's voice was impatient. "But it's no place for a woman! I'm going to earn enough money to take me out where I can go on with my education and amount to something."

"I guess Peter's been talking to you," said Douglas.

Judith nodded. "Yes, and he offered to loan me the money for college. But I won't be beholden to a man outside the family. I'll earn it myself."

"What'll you do with a college education after you get it?" Doug's glance was not lazy now, as it rested on the young girl's eager face.

"I'll do something beside cooking and horse wrangling for some old Lost Chief rancher, I can tell you that!" cried Judith. "I'm going to get out and see the world and know life!"

"And give up your horses and dogs and the big old mountains? Jude, you'll never do it. I'd like to get