"What does a woman always want?" she asked sweetly, and then answered her own question. "Clothes--and money to buy them--lots of it. I'm going to town to-morrow, you know." "H'm!" His grunt was half a chuckle, half a growl. "Do you call yoreself a woman--a little bit of a trick like you? Why, I could break you in two." She drew herself up very straight. "I'll be seventeen, coming grass. And it's much more likely, sir, that I'll break you--as you'll find out when the bills come in after I've been to town." With that she swung on her heel and vanished inside the house. The proud, fond eyes of the cattleman followed her. It was an easy guess that she was the apple of his eye. But when he turned to business again his manner was gruffer than usual. He was a trifle crisper to balance the effect of his new foreman having discovered that he was as putty in the hands of this slip of a girl. "Well, you know where you're at, Roberts. Deliver that herd without any loss for strays, fat, an' in good condition, an' you won't need to go back to line-ridin'. Fall down on the job, an' you'll never get another chance to drive A T O cows." "That's all I ask, Mr. Wadley," the cowboy answered. "An' much obliged for the chance." "Don't thank me. Thank York's busted laig," snapped his chief. "We'll make the gather for the drive to-morrow an' Friday." CHAPTER III TEX TAKES AN INTEREST Jack Roberts was in two minds whether to stop at the Longhorn saloon. He needed a cook in his trail outfit, and the most likely employment agency in Texas during that decade was the barroom of a gambling-house. Every man out of a job naturally drifted to the only place of entertainment. The wandering eye of the foreman decided the matter for him. It fell upon a horse, and instantly ceased to rove. The cow-pony was tied to a hitching-rack worn shiny by thousands of reins. On the nose of the bronco was a splash of white. Stockings of the same color marked its legs. The left hind hoof was gashed and broken. The rider communed with himself. "I reckon we'll 'light and take an interest, Jack. Them that looks for, finds." He slid from the saddle and rolled a cigarette, after which he made friends with the sorrel and examined carefully the damaged foot. "It's a li'l bit of a world after all," he commented. "You never can tell who you're liable to meet up with." The foreman drew from its scabbard a revolver and slid it back into place to make sure that it lay easy in its case. "You can't guess for sure what's likely to happen. I'd a heap rather be too cautious than have flowers sent me." He sauntered through the open door into the gambling-house. It was a large hall, in the front part of which was the saloon. In the back the side wall to the next building had been ripped out to give more room. There was a space for dancing, as well as roulette, faro, chuckaluck, and poker tables. In one corner a raised stand for the musicians had been built.