Her glance did not leave him. "Mr. Tamroy told me he had mentioned me to you," she said. "So of course you knew, when you saw this carving, that I was the subject of the raving. And when you saw me you wished to spare me embarrassment. Thank you. But you see I'm not at all embarrassed. I have never before seen this masterpiece in wood, and imagine it has been done since I was in the cabin last. Let's see--I doubt if I've been inside for a year or more. I think perhaps Mr. Digger Foss is the one who tried to make his emotions deathless by this work of art. 'Jessamy, My Sweetheart,' eh?" She threw back her glorious head and laughed till two tears streamed down her tanned cheeks. "Poor Digger!" she said soberly at last. "I suppose he does love me." "Who wouldn't," thought Oliver, but bit his lips instead of speaking. "You may leave that, Mr. Drew," she told him, "until you get ready to replace the old door with a new one. I would not have the irrefutable evidence of at least one conquest blotted out for worlds. Now let's go out in that glorious sunlight, and I'll tell you about Old Man Selden and the Poison Oakers." CHAPTER V "AND I'LL HELP YOU!" What Jessamy Selden told Oliver Drew of the Poison Oakers was about the same as he had heard from Damon Tamroy. She used his sawbuck for a seat, and sat with one booted ankle resting on a knee, idly spinning the rowel of her spur as she talked. Oliver listened without interruption until she finished and once more levelled that straightforward glance at him. "The cows have been down below on winter pasture," she added. "Adam Selden and the boys rode out yesterday to start the spring drive into the foothills. You'll awake some morning soon to find red cattle all about you, and they'll be here till August." "Well," he said, "I don't know that I shall mind them. My fence is pretty fair, and with a little more repairing will turn them, I think." She twirled her rowel in silence for a time, her eyes fixed on it. Then she said: "It isn't that, Mr. Drew. I may as well tell you right now what I came down here purposely to tell you. You're not wanted here. All of this land has been abandoned so long that Adam Selden and the gang have come to consider it their property--or at least free range." "But they'll respect my right of ownership." "I don't know--I don't know. I'm afraid they won't. They're a law unto themselves down in here. They'll try to run you out." "How?" "Any way--every way. If nothing else occurs to them, they'll begin a studied system of persecution with the idea of making you so sick of your bargain that you'll pull stakes and hit the trail. That poor man Dodd! Mr. Tamroy told me you happened into the saloon in time to see the shooting. Wasn't it terrible! And how they persecuted him--fairly drove him into the rash act that cost him his life!" She lifted her glance again. "Mr. Tamroy tells me that you were shocked at me that day."