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It would not have been her choice to ride home with the

lieutenant of rangers, but since her father had made the

appointment publicly she did not care to make objection. Yet she

took care to let Fraser see that he was in her black books. The

men rode toward the rear of the herd, one on each side, and Arlie

fell in beside her old playmate, Dick. She laughed and talked

with him about a hundred things in which Steve could have had no

part, even if he had been close enough to catch more than one

word out of twenty. Not once did she even look his way. Quite

plainly she had taken pains to forget his existence.

"It was Briscoe's turn the other day," mused the Texan. "It's

mine now. I wonder when it will be Dick's to get put out in the

cold!"