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 that she loved them all equally, or very nearly equally, not having yet made a choice. If there was one of them rather ahead of the others in Amandy's favour it was Joyce Briggs. However, Joyce didn't know it, and Morgan Harris and Tom Galpin and Merrick Gaylord and Billy Prentiss all thought they had a look-in, and accordingly were very jealous and hopeful. And indeed there is no doubt they all had a chance, seeing the sort of man old Higginson was, and the way he went to work to keep Amandy safely corralled. As Em'ly Price said (she lived the other side of Double Mountain Creek, and had a father who did as he was told) it was a wonder Amandy "sot quiet" and endured.

"I ain't hankerin' to wed none of 'em, Em'ly," said Amandy, tossing her pretty head. "They worries me wuss than a hoss in fly-time. I cayn't go out but I find one of the boys hid behind a mesquite."

"You reckon, as your Dad says, that you'll merry a millionaire?" said Em'ly.

"I don't reckon to merry at all, yet," said Amandy. But she didn't understand her