"Say," he suggested, "why don't you leave word in them instructions for me to be mounted? I know a taxidermist over there near the Yellowstone Park what can put up a b'ar or a timber wolf so natural you wouldn't know 'twas dead. Wouldn't it be kinda nice to see me settin' around the house with my teeth showin' and an ear of corn in my mouth? I'll tell you what I'll do: I'll sell you my hull hide for a hundred more. It might cost two dollars to have me tanned, and with a nice felt linin' you could have a good rug out of me for a very little money." McArthur replied ironically: "I never have regarded you as an ornament, Tubbs." Tubbs looked at the check McArthur handed him, with satisfaction. "That's what I call clear velvet!" he declared, and went off chuckling to show it to his friends. "When you think of it, this is a very singular transaction," observed McArthur, wiping his fountain-pen carefully. "Yes," and Ralston, no longer able to contain himself, shouted with laughter; "it is." XII SMITH GETS "HUNKS" Smith's ugly mood was still upon him when he picked up his grammar that evening. Jealous, humiliated by the loss of the morning's race, full of revengeful thoughts and evil feelings, he wanted to hurt somebody--something--even Dora. He had a vague, sullen notion that she was to blame because Ralston was in love with her. She could have discouraged him in the beginning, he told himself; she could have stopped it. Unaccustomed as Smith was to self-restraint, he quickly showed his frame of mind to Dora. He had no _savoir faire_ with which to conceal his mood; besides, he entertained a feeling of proprietorship over her which justified his resentment to himself. Was she not to be his? Would he not eventually control her, her actions, choose her friends? Dora found him a dense and disagreeable pupil, and one who seemingly had forgotten everything he had learned during previous lessons. His replies at times were so curt as to be uncivil, and a feeling of indignation gradually rose within her. She was at a loss to understand his mood, unless it was due to the result of the morning's race; yet she could scarcely believe that his disappointment, perhaps chagrin, could account for his rudeness to her. When the useless lesson was finished, she closed the book and asked: "You are not yourself to-night. What is wrong?" With an expression upon his face which both startled and shocked her he snarled: "I'm sick of seein' that lady-killer hangin' around here!" "You mean----?" "Ralston!" Dora had never looked at Smith as she looked at him now. "I beg to be excused from your criticisms of Mr. Ralston." Smith had not dreamed that the gentle, girlish voice could take on such a quality. It cut him, stung him, until he felt hot and cold by turns. "Oh, I didn't know he was such a friend," he sneered. "Yes"--her eyes did not quail before the look that flamed in his--"he is _just_ such a friend!"