Page:The Baron of Diamond Tail (1923).pdf/78



OMANCE was to be encountered at Eagle Rock camp; that was the very nearest point to the ranch-house which the elusive fay would approach for several weeks. So Hal Nearing declared at breakfast, which he presided over like a campaigner in the field, booted and belted, his pistols hanging on the back of his chair.

Barrett protested that he could find the camp, in spite of its forty-odd miles distance, if given directions; that it was unnecessary for his employer to go to the length of riding there with him. Nearing replied that he had no doubt that a sailor of the main would be able to keep his course over that unmarked expanse of land, but the superintendent of the working forces must be approached and handled.

"He's a little bit shy of green men," Nearing explained.

That revealed why he had not been turned over to Dan Gustin, Barrett understood. No less hand than the big boss' own could place a greenhorn in the acceptation of that mighty man, mightier than Barrett, in the speculations of that light moment, ever dreamed.

Barrett expected Alma to say something more in disparagement of range life and the men who followed it. Whether out of deference to her uncle, or due to a change in her mood, she did not attempt further dis-