Bitterly condemning himself for having said something out of the way, and racking his brains in vain to think what it was, he made his way to the corral in a disturbed frame of mind. “Josephine must think I am a clumsy brute, and I don’t know as I blame her. Jack, you always did have a fool way of putting your blundering foot in bad with the women, but this girl, oh hell, but I have made a mess of things.” Thus harshly denouncing himself, he paused at the corral. Josephine’s favorite horse, Fleet, caught his eye, and leaping the bars he took a lump of sugar from his pocket and held it out temptingly to the animal. Fleet gave a whinny of delight and raced over to him. “Anyway, I can keep on good terms with you, can’t I, old top?” The horse munched the sugar and tried to put his soft nose into Mason’s pocket. “No more, Fleet,” he said gently, “or I will be winning you away from Josephine, and then she would have another chance to get sore at me.” From where he stood he could see Josephine and his sister; they were talking gaily with Bud, while Percy was staring at the cowboys from a safe distance. They were gathered in a small group and as Mason watched, one of them started to walk past his comrades, imitating Percy’s walk and mannerisms. Mason’s good nature returned with a burst of humor. The cowboy was really a good actor and he imitated Percy’s ways to perfection. Evidently the cowboys had planned on a fake fight for Percy’s benefit. The cowboy paused in his walk and a violent quarrel took place between him and one of the men. Percy was staring at them with horror in his eyes. Suddenly one of them pulled his gun and firing from his hip brought the quarrel to an end. The other cowboy sank to the ground as though mortally wounded. Percy gave one look and fled to the house. The incident caused a hearty laugh from all the men, but Josephine cautioned the cowboy not to repeat the performance. Soon after the breakfast bell rang and Mason joined his sister and Josephine on their way to the house. “You missed the fun, Sir Jack,” Josephine said, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “No, I didn’t,” he retorted, vaguely wondering at her change of manner. “I was in the corral and saw all that took place, and believe me, it was amusing.” “I will have to square myself with Percy, he will think we are all roughnecks out here,” she said, a little frown wrinkling her face. “Nonsense,” he laughed, “I’ll just go right up to Percy and say, ‘What’s the matter, old chappie, don’t let a little thing like that frighten you, old chap. It’s a common occurrence out here, old top, dontcherknow, or don’t you know?’” “You will do nothing of the kind,” Josephine cried, eyeing him severely; “why, you would scare the poor fellow away.” “Small loss,” he answered, smiling again as he thought of the incident.