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 "Do you mind if I stop there with you and cook my supper? When the moon comes up I'll ride on."

"I was just goin' to ask you to take a sup of coffee with me. But I'm afraid there won't be any moon to-night, miss; it looks like it might cloud up and rain."

"If it does I'll have to wait till daylight. Well, I've got my slicker."

"You provide yourself like a regular old-timer when you stir around."

"I am an old-timer, I used to ride after cattle down at Colby's. That's where I learnt to rope."

"You're mighty neat and handy at it, miss."

Texas felt that this compliment was due her, despite the underhanded scheme to defraud Sallie McCoy and the public in which she had borne a part. Some way he felt that she had been more of an instrument than a designer in that shameful steal. Perhaps this softening toward her came from the service she had rendered before Uncle Boley's door that evening the mayor had ordered his arrest.

"I'm not as good with a rope as I used to be, Texas," she said. But for all this modest disclaimer he could see that she was pleased by this compliment.

But what was she doing there? That was what