Joe uttered something under his breath. “What makes you so reckless, Joe?” “Shucks, Willie! Maybe I have slipped a few cogs. A lone bachelor like me can’t help it sometimes, can he?” asked Hurley, with a smile that tried to be whimsical rather than bitter. “Remember, Willie, I haven’t got a sister to keep me well balanced. It’s womenfolks and—and an interest in one that makes a man a sobersides.” “Is it!” returned Hunt, with scorn. “If a man hasn’t the stamina to stay straight, no girl will ever keep him in the narrow path—believe me!” “You belittle Miss Betty’s powers of persuasion,” returned Joe, with a sly glance. “If that is your belief,” Hunt said, with sharpness and a rising color, “I should think you would keep straight for Nell’s sake.” “Nell Blossom?” “Yes. You are interested in her, aren’t you?” “Surest thing you know, Willie.” “Then, for her sake——” “Hold on!” ejaculated Hurley, sudden suspicion in his gaze. “Do you think I’m soft on Nell?” “Well—er—aren’t you?” demanded his friend rather faintly. “I’m free to confess I was,” said Joe slowly, watching Hunt now with growing understanding in his eyes. “But that little skeesicks showed me where I got off long ago. And I tell you fair, Willie, she is not the girl who is bothering me.” “Then, there is a girl? Joe! You and Betty——” Hurley put up his hand, turning his face away. “No use, Willie. Betty’s given me my congé, too. I reckon I am an ‘also-ran’ with the ladies.” “My dear Joe!” Hunt grabbed his hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand Betty.” Hurley went to the door suddenly, opened it, and looked out. A cold blast from the hills ruffled the papers on the desk. The sun was suddenly dimmed. In the distance the coming wind whined like a sick dog. “Say! we’re going to get it,” he muttered. “A storm coming?” asked Hunt absently. His own heart sang. A foolish happiness swept over him. He went to look out over Hurley’s shoulder. “Does it look bad to you?” “Youbetcha! It’s coming faster than you ever saw a storm move, I reckon, Willie. Those old has-beens, Steve and Andy, can’t be fooled. They got in from the desert just ahead of it.” “A blizzard, Joe?” cried the parson with sudden anxiety. “The girls!” “What about them? What girls?” “Betty and Nell. They’ve gone out on horseback.” “You don’t mean it? Er—Well, Nell must have seen it coming and turned back. She knows this country as well as a man. But, come on! Let’s go down to Tim’s corral and see if the ponies are in again. It wouldn’t do——” He slammed the office door, shouted to his manager, and strode away. Hunt had to put his best foot forward to keep up with him. Women and children were already scuttling to shelter when they went down through the town. Bill Judson waved a hand at them from his door, shouting: “Them old desert rats knowed their biz, didn’t they? I’d set my clock by them, I would.”