Tom Gallup was yelling like a wild boy on the fence. Sue could scarcely catch her breath for fear. She would not have admitted it for the world; but the courage of the range girl amazed her. Her own rescue from the charge of the little black bullock by Frances had not impressed Sue Latrop as did this battle with the pony in the arena of the horse corral. Fred Purchase ran with another lariat. Frances seized it, flung the noose over the upraised head of the pony, took a swift turn around a shed post, and brought the "bad actor" up short. She insisted, too, on cinching on the saddle and putting the bit in the pony's mouth. Then she mounted him and as he tore around the corral, the girl sitting as though she were a part of the creature, the boys and girls joined the punchers in cheering her. It was not in this way, however, that the girl visitors to the ranges learned the true worth of Frances Rugley. They were, after all, only "porch acquaintances." Once only had the party been invited into the inner court for luncheon, and their brief calls to the ranch-house offered little opportunity for the girls to really see Frances' home. They had met her so much in riding costume that, like Pratt Sanderson, they were amazed when she appeared in a pretty house dress. And they were really a bit awed by her, for although the range girl was of a naturally cheerful disposition, she possessed, too, more than her share of dignity. "You don't flit about like these other girls, Frances," said the old ranchman, who was very observant. "You grow to look and seem more like your mother every day. But the goodness knows I don't want you to grow into a woman ahead of your time." "I reckon I won't do that, Dad," she said, laughing at him fondly. "I don't know. I reckon you've had too much responsibility on those shoulders of yours. You left school too young, too. That's what these other girls say. Why, that Boston girl is going to school now! "But, shucks! she wouldn't know enough to hurt her if she attended school from now till the end of time!" Frances laughed again. "That is pretty harsh, father. Now, I think I have had quite schooling enough to get along. I don't need the higher branches of education to help you run this ranch. Do I?" "By mighty!" exploded the Captain. "I don't know whether I have been doing right by you or not. I've been talking to Mrs. Bill Edwards about it. I loved you so, Frances, that I hated to have you out of my sight. But----" "Now, now!" cried the girl. "Let's have no more of that. You and I have only each other, and I couldn't bear to be away from you long enough to go to a boarding school." "Yes--I know," went on Captain Rugley. "But there are ways of getting around _that_. We'll see." One thing he was determined on was Captain Dan Rugley. He proposed to have "some doings" at the ranch-house before Pratt was well enough to be discharged from "St. Frances' Hospital," as he called the _hacienda_.