"
"Why not tell him yourself?" Beatrice asked.
"I don't expect to be over to the Pool ranch for a while." Keith's tone
was significant, and Beatrice dropped the subject.
"Been fishing lately?" he asked easily, as though he had not left her
that day in a miff. "No. Dorman is fickle, like all male creatures.
Dick brought him two little brown puppies the other day, and now he can
hardly be dragged from the woodshed to his meals. I believe he would eat
and sleep with them if his auntie would allow him to."
The trail narrowed there, and they were obliged to ride single file,
which was not favorable to conversation. Thus far, Beatrice thought, she
was a long way from winning her wager; but she did not worry--she looked
up to where the hill towered above them, and smiled.
"We'll have to get off and lead our horses over this spur," he told her,
at last. "Once on the other side, we can begin to climb. Still in the
humor to tackle it?"
"To be sure I am. After all this trouble I shall not turn back."
"All right," said Keith, inwardly shouting. If his Heart's Desire
wished to take a climb that would last a good two hours, he was not
there to object. He led her up a steep, rock-strewn ridge and into a
hollow. From there the hill sloped smoothly upward.
"I'll just anchor these cayuses to a rock, to make dead-sure of them,"
Keith remarked.
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