“Between you an' _me_, Kenneth,” he added, looking at Kent slyly, “she ain't having none too easy a time. Man's gone back to drinkin'--I knowed all the time he wouldn't stay braced up very long--lasted about six weeks, from all I c'n hear. Mebbe she reely thinks it's jest headaches ails him when he comes back from town--I dunno. You can't never tell what idees a woman's got tacked away under her hair--from all I c'n gether. I don't p'tend to know nothing about 'em--don't want to know--_he-he!_ But I guess,” he hinted cunningly, “I know as much about 'em as you do--hey, Kenneth? You don't seem to chase after 'em none, yourself--_he-he!_” “Whereabouts did Man run his guards?” asked Kent, passing over the invitation to personal confessions. Polycarp gave a grunt of disdain. “Just on the west rim of his coulee. About forty rod of six-foot guard, and slanted so it'll shoot a fire right into high grass at the head of the coulee and send it kitin' over this way. That's supposin' it turns a fire, which it won't. Six feet--a fall like this here! Why, I never see grass so thick on this range--did you?” “I wonder, did he burn that extra guard?” Kent was keeping himself rigidly to the subject of real importance. “No, by granny! he didn't--not unless he done it since yest'day. He went to town for suthin, and he might' nigh forgot to go home--_he-he!_ He was there yest'day about three o'clock, an' I says to him--” “Well, so-long; I got to, be moving.” Kent gathered up the reins and went his way, leaving Polycarp just in the act of drawing his “plug” from his pocket, by his usual laborious method, in mental preparation for another half hour of talk. “If you're ridin' over that way, Kenneth, you better take a look at Man's guard,” he called after him. “A good mile of guard, along there, would help a lot if a fire got started beyond. The way he fixed it, it ain't no account at all.” Kent proved by a gesture that he heard him, and rode on without turning to look back. Already his form was blurred as Polycarp gazed after him, and in another minute or two he was blotted out completely by the smoke veil, though he rode upon the level. Polycarp watched him craftily, though there was no need, until he was completely hidden, then he went on, ruminating upon the faults of his acquaintances.