"I wonder if you'd like me to sing 'Swanee River' for you, Mr. Roberts?" she asked. He did not mind being teased. By this time he had regained his confidence. He had discovered that she would not bite even though she might laugh at him in a friendly way. "You sing it fine," he said. "I wasn't singing it for you the other time, but for Mr.--what's-his-name, Gurley?" "I couldn't very well have you keep shoutin' out, 'I'm a girl,' so I figured--?" "I know what you figured, sir. You wanted to take all the chances that were taken. Father says it was the quickest-witted thing he ever knew." She shot another dart at him, to his confusion. "Do you like my voice?" "Well, ma'am, I--" "You don't have to tell any stories. I see you don't." Jack took heart. "If you're fishin' for a compliment--" "What a tactful thing to tell a girl," she said, smiling. "--I'll tell you that I never heard you sing better." "Or worse, for that matter," she added; and with one of her swift changes of mood switched the topic of conversation. "How do you like Art Ridley?" "He'll do to take along." "That's not the way he talks. He says he--he wanted to run away from the island and leave that man Dinsmore, but you wouldn't let him." Her eyes met his very directly. "He's a great lad for imaginin' things. I never want to see any one hold up his end better." "You mean that he _didn't_ say he wanted to leave Dinsmore?" With her gaze searching him so steadily, it had to be an out-and-out lie to serve. Jack lied competently. "Not a word." Her little finger tapped the hole in the pane gently while she reflected. "He told me--" "That boy's still worryin' about losin' that money for Mr. Wadley, don't you reckon? He's got it tucked in his mind that a game man never would have been robbed. So he's decided he must be yellow. Nothin' to it a-tall. No quitter ever would have stood off those Kiowas like he did." "That's what I think." She turned to the Ranger again, nodding agreement. "You've relieved my mind. I shouldn't like to think that--" She let her sentence trail out to nothing. Jack Roberts guessed its conclusion. She wouldn't like to think that the man she loved was not game. CHAPTER XXIV TEX BORROWS A BLACKSNAKE Dinsmore recovered from his wound and was held prisoner by Captain Ellison for a month after he was well. Then the ranger captain dismissed the man with a warning. "Skedaddle, you damn jayhawker," was his cavalier farewell. "But listen. If ever I get the deadwood on you an' yore outfit, I'll sure put you through. You know me, Dinsmore. I went through the war. For two years I took the hides off'n 'em.[5] I'm one of the lads that knocked the bark off this country. An' I've got the best bunch of man-hunters you ever did see. I'm not braggin'. I'm tellin' you that my boys will make you look like a plugged nickel if you don't get shet of yore meanness. They're a hell-poppin' bunch of jim-dandies, an' don't you ever forget it."