“Yes, dearie, but riding a few hours on the smooth pavements of New York is entirely different from a thirty-five mile trip across an Indian reservation.” A look of disappointment clouded her face, and Henry West hastened to speak: “Mauchacho is perfectly safe, and when she gets tired we can stop and wait for the stage.” Bess looked at him with grateful eyes and cried impulsively: “You de— oh, thank you, Mr. West,” correcting herself hastily. Henry West looked at her with a sympathetic glance, and had she looked she might have read with what eloquence his eyes asked her to speak that word—dear. James saw that any further expostulation would be useless, so he helped West adjust the stirrups. Suddenly the ’breed looked at Bess. “But perhaps you use a side-saddle, Miss Fletcher? In that case I fear you’ll have to be disappointed, and go in the stage after all.” “Oh, my, no!” she cried before the words were out of his mouth. “James taught me to ride like a boy, and besides I know how a horse should be guided across the neck.” Her chin went up with a saucy tilt at her superior knowledge as she went around in front of the horse to “get acquainted,” as she called it. West watched her as she rubbed her nose against the dainty animal’s, unconscious of his interest. “So your name is Mauchacho? I wonder what that means? And you have a forelock which bothers your eyes, the same as mine does. I wonder if you are used to skirts?” West came around where she was standing, and as if in reply to the questions which she had been asking the horse, he said, “Mauchacho was my sister’s horse. He has never been used at any of the round-ups. No one has been on his back, excepting myself, since—since Helen—” After a moment he went on: “I named him Mauchacho because it is the Indian word for bird. He is very swift, and in a race always takes the lead.” He snapped his fingers, and the horse lifted up his front foot and daintily placed it in his master’s hand. “Shake hands with your new mistress now.” Then he added: “Take him. He is yours to keep, Miss Fletcher.” Before Bess could recover from her astonishment and embarrassment he added: “I notice that you have the same idiosyncrasy that Mauchacho has.” Bess tried to think if his remark was a reflection on her unruly foretop, and was about to ask him, when he left her and walked to James, already seated in the stage. Presently, when he turned, he saw Bess already in the saddle and adjusting her skirts. With a smile at her independence, he swung into his own saddle and started up the road, saying: “We’ll lead, as the stage may be a little slow and the dust is annoying.” Bess turned to wave her hand and throw a kiss in farewell to Mrs. Strong and Mabel, who had come out on the porch to witness the departure. With a parting “Don’t get lonely nor tired, brother,” and a wave of her handkerchief toward the stage, she urged Mauchacho forward to join Eagle and his rider.